Jon Tester-- Not Nearly As Bad As The Other Trump-State Democrats

The other day, some babbling idiot on twitter, was whining about how dare anyone-- basically me, I assume-- think someone further left than Jon Tester could ever get elected in Montana. He wasn't worth responding to but why don't we take a glance back into Montana's ancient history to a time when someone considerably to the left of Jon Tester did get elected. And that person was... Jon Tester.

First off, it's worth noting that Tester's ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote score ain't that bad-- he gets a "B." Of the states that Trump won, the only Democrats who have better scores than Tester are Sherrod Brown (OH), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Gary Peters (MI), Debbie Stabenow (MI), and Bob Casey (PA). Meanwhile, Joe Donnelly (IN), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Joe Manchin (WV) and Doug Jones (AL) all have "F" scores. And while we're doing this exercise, let's examine FiveThirtyEight's Trump affinity scores. The lower the number, the less frequently the senator voted with Trump

• Jon Tester (MT)- 36.8%
• Bill Nelson (FL)- 42.7%
• Mark Warner (VA)- 43.4%
• Claire McCaskill (MO)-45.3%
• Doug Jones (AL)- 52.6%
• Joe Donnelly (IN)- 54.7%
• Heidi Heitkamp (ND)- 55.3%
• Joe Manchin (WV)- 60.5%

In fact, Tester has the "bravest" score of any Democrat in the Senate, when you take his state's political performance into account. The other standout for bravery is Sherrod Brown. So... point is, based on his voting record, Tester's not bad. But let's get back to the dumb tweet-- and the 2006 election when Tester was first elected. I bet the idiot tweeter doesn't know that Tester was the first Senate netroots victory over Schumer!

Schumer was DSCC chair at the time and he was all in for state auditor John Morrison, a Wall Street hack and corporatist (like Schumer himself). Schumer's brilliant analysis was that someone as progressive and populist could never win against GOP incumbent Conrad Burns in such a red state. Scvhumer had sure Morrison swamped Tester in the funding race. But Schumer was as out of touch with Montana as anyone with their eyes open would expect. Running on a fierce progressive platform Tester kicked the Schumer candidate's ass 65,757 (60.77%) to 38,394 (35.48%) and then went on to beat the entrenched Republican-- albeit very narrowly: 199,845 (49.2%) to 196,283 (48.3%), despite Burns out-spending him $9,167,154 to $5,587,467.

Once Tester was in DC, he moved towards the center a bit, but he's no Donnelly or Manchin or Heitkamp. Voters in Montana seem to admire him for his independent spirit and he's done pretty well. In 2012, his first reelection bid, he was up against Republican Denny Rehberg (an at-large congressman) and Tester beat him 236,123 (48.6%) to 218,051 (44.6%), a far more comfortable margin.

This time, there's the Trump factor to consider. Trump beat Hillary statewide by a lot. But that had a lot to do with her. There could hardly have been a worse Democratic candidate for Montana. (Although Wasserman Schultz fixed it so that Hillary took 10 convention delegates to Bernie's 11, Bernie had beaten her 65,156 to 55,805.) Trump took 279.240 (56.2%) to her 177,709 (35.7%). Of Montana's 56 counties, she won 6. Tester's opponent this cycle is Matt Rosendale, the state's auditor and a failed congressional candidate, who won the 4-man primary with 33.8%. Every poll shows Tester winning in November, a July Survey Monkey poll for Axios 55-43%. As of the June 30 FEC reporting deadline, Tester was ahead $14,093,719 to $1,966,002.

I got to know Tester a bit when Schumer was the common enemy during the 2006 primary (obviously over a decade ago). At the time, I described Tester as in comparison to Morrison as more than just better than the other guy. He's a transformational politician, the kind of inspiring public servant who we will be able to look to for a genuine effort to actually make our nation a better place... Not a run-of-the-mill garden variety Democrat, but with the ability, the capacity and the intention of doing far more than just going along with the political whores who rule the roost Inside the Beltway... a straight shooter.

So who is this guy? I first started writing about him last July. My excitement has grown and grown as I've seen more of him in action. A 48 year old organic wheat farmer from Big Sandy and President of the State Senate, Jon announced his populist, progressive candidacy driving his tractor-trailer rig around Montana. He’s endorsed withdrawal from Iraq, a clean renewable energy policy (he actually sponsored a renewable energy standard in Montana), and is calling for expanded health care— including government funded health care for all children. He’s also endorsed a reasonable version of single-payer health insurance. Morrison (as a DLC shill) has more incommon with Burns on these issues than he has with Jon. Jon Tester's stands on the issues are what I expect from every Democrat; unfortunately my expectations are shot down more than they are realized... Like John Kerry, Tester is personally pro-Life. The good news is that he has a 100% pro-choice voting record in the State Senate. That's because to him it's a privacy issue between a woman and her physician (and anyone else she wants to talk about it with). He's a Montanan and he's not eager to see Big Government interfering in peoples' private lives. The gay issue is always the hardest for any politician not living in an urban area. But Tester hasn't ducked that one either. He's come out strongly against the hate and bigotry amendments the Republicans have tried passing and he's worked hard to make sure others in the State Senate understood the issue as well. The man has great instincts and we can expect him to come to progressive conclusions about important issues.

Less than a decade later I was plenty disappointed in him. But it was more about politics than about policy. He's not exactly the kind of incumbent Blue America would endorse or raise money for, but I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to vote for him if I lived in Montana. And I'm rooting for him to win.