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Read what local newspapers are saying about Jon’s barnstorm through Ennis, Stanford, Livingston, Lewistown, Browning, Polson, and many more

BILLINGS – Third-generation dirt farmer and U.S. Senator Jon Tester is barnstorming through rural towns across Montana, and as their local newspapers report, “polls show headwinds, but turnout [is] strong.” 

Jon is rallying crowds of hundreds in rural areas, where in towns like Ennis, the population is just barely over 1,000 Montanans. Jon knows the best way to reach voters is face-to-face, which is why he is prioritizing meeting voters where they’re at in rural communities across Montana. 

From swapping stories about losing to the Ennis Mustangs, to enjoying a feed with the Blackfeet Nation, to shaking hands with voters in Polson, to diving into agriculture policy in Lewistown, to dropping by the Senior Center in Stanford, and to grabbing a cold one with voters in Livingston, Jon makes it clear: “His history as a third-generation dirt farmer from Big Sandy helps him understand the challenges faced by residents of one of the nation’s largest and most rural states.”

Read more about how rural Montana is fired up to reelect Jon: 

The Madisonian: Tester in Ennis 

By David Madison

October 10, 2024 

• As a high school football player, Sen. Jon Tester said he and his team from Big Sandy endured relentless beatings from the formidable Ennis Mustangs, coached by the legendary Bob Cleverley.
  
• “They had a hell of a football team. They used to work the s#$% out of everybody in the state,” Tester said, reminiscing about the tough competition that shaped his early years. Now, as he campaigns for re-election in a high-stakes Senate race that could determine the balance of power in Washington D.C., Tester is eager to turn the tide in his favor in Madison County and across Montana.
  
• Addressing a crowd the Tester campaign said was 153 people strong outside the Gravel Bar and Burnt Tree Brewing in Ennis, Montana’s senior senator expressed his gratitude for the turnout on a day when many might have opted for fishing, if it hadn’t been so windy. 
  
• “It’s humbling to see so many folks in Southwestern Montana come out to visit with a dirt farmer from North Central Montana. So thank you,” he said. With fewer than 30 days until election day, Tester said he is focused on rallying support, declaring, “We’ll be glad when it’s over because I plan on winning,” prompting applause from the crowd.
  

Judith Basin Press: Senator Jon Tester stops in Stanford

By Melody Montgomery

October 10, 2024

• “I don’t need to tell you guys how important this election is,” said United States Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) at the Senior Center in Stanford last week. “I appreciate the support.”
• Tester visited first one-on-one with local constituents, who were largely composed of farmers and ranchers, about concerns for Montana. He followed this by answering questions from the group, which ranged from country of origin labeling to the border to healthcare to support for young farmers.
• “There’s a lot of issues that are on the ballot. It depends on who you elect that will determine whether those issues are going to keep Montana the Montana we all grew up in, and the Montana we know, or whether Montana changes to some other place,” he said.
• “You guys live in a pretty special part of the state right here in Stanford and the surrounding areas. We have got to be aware that there are a lot of guys who come to this state and want to make this state their own personal playground … That’s not the Montana I grew up in. In the Montana I grew up in, people work together, help one another, and when somebody needs some help, you quit doing what you’re doing and go over and help them if they’re in a bind. That’s what I see as Montana,” he added.
  

Lake County Leader: Sen. Tester delivers pep talk in Polson

By Kristi Niemeyer

October 10, 2024

• U.S. Senator Jon Tester, the lone Democrat representing Montana at the national level, dropped by campaign headquarters in Polson Sunday to pose for pictures and chat with supporters and volunteers who were heading out to knock doors on his behalf.
• “We go back a long time,” he said, recounting how he first won a seat in the Montana Legislature in 1998 by knocking on doors in a rural, largely Republican county.
• The same strategy will work this time around, he told the crowd of supporters. “Spread the word of Tester, okay? If you can do that, I win.”
• “As you guys all know, we don’t want the federal government, the state government, any government to tell us how to live our lives, especially with something as intimate as making your own health care decisions,” Tester said to cheers from the crowd.
• A woman told him she had recently been to Red Lodge. “And by the way, I got two votes for you there.”
• “I got you pegged for being involved in building 14 bridges in the state of Montana,” another voter told him. “Can you tell me if a Republican has ever built a bridge anywhere, whether it’s infrastructure or relationships?”

Livingston Enterprise: Beers to ballots: Jon Tester and Ryan Busse grab a cold one with Livingston residents

By Dan Astin

October 9, 2024

• U.S. Senate incumbent candidate Jon Tester and Ryan Busse, candidate for Montana governor, traveled to Livingston on Saturday to grab a cold one with potential future constituents.
• “What wins this race moving forward … is your ability to go out and knock on doors,” Tester said to the crowd of supporters, volunteers and campaign officials, assembled at the field office. “Talk to your neighbors, talk to the people you go to church with, the people you work with, the people you play pool against, the people you bowl with.”

Glacier Reporter: Blackfeet country turns out to support Sen. Tester at Browning campaign stop

By John McGill

October 9, 2024

• Campaign signs were in abundance, thanks to the Montana Dems Native Vote Program-Blackfeet, as people were urged to register to vote in the upcoming November elections.
  
• The man of the hour – two hours actually – was Senator Jon Tester who is running for reelection in 2024. He entered the Arbor to cheers and folks lining up to have their pictures taken with him. Billed as a “Meet, Greet and Eat” event, the meeting and greeting consumed a fair amount of time.
• And no wonder, as the Senator later said, he looks forward to his trips to Browning because he has so many friends to visit. And this year, he had a lot to visit about.
• It was a fairly lengthy visit near the end of a busy campaign season, and the Senator seemed to enjoy being among old friends. 

Lewistown News-Argus: Tester holds rally in Lewistown

By Will Briggs

October 4, 2024

• With a month to go until the November 5 general election, Sen. Jon Tester made a campaign stop in Lewistown Wednesday afternoon to rally supporters in a gathering at the Calvert Hotel as he seeks re-election to the U.S. Senate.
• In a brief address and question and answer session, Tester, who is facing a challenge from Tim Sheehy, laid out what he sees as the stakes of the election and outlined several policy areas he’d focus on in a potential next term, including agriculture, veterans benefits, infrastructure, public lands, and housing.
• “This is going to be a close race and it will be decided more by you than by me,” said Tester. “This race is about Montana and the Montana we want our kids to grow up in.”
• Following the rally, Tester told the News-Argus that reference prices in the upcoming farm bill “need to be raised” to pave the way for more farm subsidies, and that a more diverse mix of crops will need to be covered under federal crop insurance.
• Calling Montana’s public lands “pretty darn cool,” and “one of the things that makes this state the last best place,” Tester promised to fight to protect hunting, fishing, and recreation access.
• “We have to try every way we can to keep lands open so that people can access them,” said Tester. “There are a lot of lands the public is locked out of right now, and millionaires are buying up lands and then charging for access.”
• He struck a similar note on housing following the rally. With the National Association of Realtors recently ranking Montana as the least affordable state for housing in the U.S., Tester advocated a three-pronged approach to addressing housing affordability: using tax credits to promote increased housing supply, providing a tax credit to first-time homebuyers that can be used for a down payment, and “stopping the hedge fund guys from coming in and buying up all the housing supply.”
• “The biggest action we can take is to make sure Montanans are driving the bus,” Tester told the News-Argus.