HELENA — Montana’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race was in the spotlight Monday, as Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican challenger Tim Sheehy met for a debate in Missoula, presented by Montana PBS.
Sheehy and Tester last met for a debate in June. Once the two men got on air Monday night, they quickly began trading some sharp criticisms.
In one early question, the candidates sparred over abortion. Sheehy said, if Montana voters approve CI-128 – the ballot measure that would specifically add abortion rights to the state constitution – he’d respect it as the “law of the land.” He again said he’d support exceptions in abortion regulations for rape, incest and the life of the mother, but accused Democrats of supporting extreme policies on late-term abortion.
“I support the right of a mother to make those – in an incredibly challenging, tumultuous time in their life, oftentimes without the support of their family, they're being forced to make these extremely challenging decisions, and they ought to know they have the right to do that – no question about that,” he said. “But at some point, when there's a viable life, another viable life included, that life also has the right to protection.”
Tester said Republican claims that infants born alive after abortion aren’t protected were “total bunk,” and questioned Sheehy’s position.
“The bottom line is this: Whose decision is it to be made?” he said. “Is it the federal government's decision, the state government's decision, Tim Sheehy’s decision, Jon Tester's decision? No, it's the woman's decision. Tim Sheehy’s called abortion ‘terrible’ and ‘murder.’ That doesn't sound to me like he's supporting the woman to make that decision.”
Tester accused Sheehy of favoring the transfer of federal lands and warned he would support privatization of health care programs. Sheehy claimed Tester hadn’t done enough to improve veterans’ health care options while in the Senate.
Each candidate charged the opposing party with playing politics on immigration issues. Sheehy argued the policies of President Joe Biden’s administration had contributed to a spike in migrant numbers and that Democrats hadn’t taken illegal crossings seriously until it became an issue in the election. Tester blamed Republican leaders for sinking a bipartisan border bill negotiated earlier this year that would have made changes to asylum rules and provided funding to expedite processing and expand security.
“It needs to be passed, and it could have been passed six or eight months ago,” said Tester. “But the bottom line is Tim Sheehy, before it was even released to read, said, ‘No, I'm not going to support that – because his party bosses told him, that's what you need to do. That's not what Montana needs in Washington.”
“It’s remarkable, according to Sen. Tester, it's my fault a Senate bill didn't pass and I wasn't even a senator,” Sheehy responded. “Apparently, I've also sold our public lands in the last week and closed our hospitals. It’s amazing how much influence I have for not being a senator.”
“You’re running for the office, Tim, your statements matter,” Tester replied.
“Yeah, they do matter,” said Sheehy. “And the statement is ‘Secure the border.’”
During the final topic discussion of the debate, on Native American healthcare, Tester also pushed Sheehy to apologize for insensitive comments he made about tribal members and alcohol.
“The reality is, yeah, insensitive,” Sheehy said. “I come from the military, as many our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes, and probably off-color sometimes. I'm an adult, I'll take accountability for that. But let's not distract from the issues that our tribal communities are suffering.”
“You can say, ‘Look, I'll take responsibility,’ but, you know, apologies matter and how you treat people matter – and if you treat them with disrespect, other people will disrespect them,” said Tester. “So like I said to begin with, you're a big guy. Just apologize.”
“Will you apologize for opening the border?” Sheehy responded.
“I didn’t open the border,” Tester answered.
Tester said during his closing statement that he expected this to be the last time he would debate Sheehy before the election.
Libertarian candidate Sid Daoud and Green Party candidate Robert Barb will also be on the ballot for U.S. Senate. Montana PBS said during the debate they had determined only Tester and Sheehy met their established criteria to participate.
