Jon Tester

Jon Tester (born August 21, 1956, Havre, Montana, U.S.) is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2006 and began representing Montana the following year. In 2024 Tester was defeated in his reelection bid by Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.

Tester grew up near Big Sandy in north-central Montana. At age nine he lost three fingers in a meat-grinding accident. While in high school he met Sharla Bitz, and the couple later married (1978) and had two children. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in music from the College of Great Falls (later Great Falls College Montana State University) in 1978, he returned to Big Sandy to teach music in elementary school. During that time he also operated a custom butcher shop.

Tester’s first electoral office was a seat on the Big Sandy Board of Education (1983–92). In 1998, angered by the deregulation of power utilities and the resultant higher prices for rural customers, Tester ran for the Montana Senate as a Democrat. He won and took office the following year. In 2001 he was named minority whip, and in 2003 he became minority leader. He served as president of that body from 2005 to 2006, when he left to run for the U.S. Senate. He was narrowly elected and took office in 2007.

Tester established himself as a political moderate during his terms in the U.S. Senate. He generally voted with the Democratic Party but broke with its leadership on issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline, which he supported, and gun-control measures, which he opposed. He took centrist views on environmental regulations, brokering compromises, for example, to allow some economic activity on public lands, such as logging in previously circumscribed wilderness areas. However, he also introduced legislation to block the sale of federal lands as a deficit-control measure. In keeping with his background, Tester became a vocal advocate for rural affairs in the Senate. He also championed renewable energy development, Native American rights, and veterans’ health care, among other issues. In 2015 Tester became head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2016 electoral cycle. Tester won reelection in 2018, but a changing political landscape left him as the last Democrat holding statewide office in Montana. Seen as perhaps the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in the 2024 Senate race, Tester faced a fierce challenge from Republican opponent Tim Sheehy, with political action committees pouring tens of millions of dollars into the race.