Why 'two Montana guys' are duking it out in the Senate

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Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, chair of the Republicans’ Senate campaign committee, told reporters at a Monitor Breakfast that he and the state’s other senator, Jon Tester, “get along just fine.” So why is one trying to get the other fired?

Courtesy of Sen. Steve Daines Office

Sen. Steve Daines (R) of Montana, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and his wife, Cindy, in Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in August 2023.

May 6, 2024

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Washington

About 45 minutes into our Monitor Breakfast on May 2 with Sen. Steve Daines, I finally asked him the question: “So how’s your relationship with Jon Tester these days, given that you’re trying to get him fired?”

Senators Daines and Tester of Montana are one of the few remaining “odd couples” of Congress’ upper chamber – one a Republican, the other a Democrat. And as chair of the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, Mr. Daines is indeed working hard to defeat Mr. Tester in November. Control of the Senate, currently in Democratic hands, is on the line.

But in response to my question, Mr. Daines insisted all was well. “Oh, we get along just fine,” he said. “It’s two Montana guys.”

Then Mr. Daines suggested perhaps a bit of tension. In 2020, he said, when he was up for reelection, Mr. Tester had tried to get him “fired.”

It’s kind of like high school football, he said. “You’re wearing one color jersey, and your opponent’s in the other color jersey. You’re taking hits against each other.” Afterwards, “you say ‘good game,’ and you move on.”

Indeed, both men are affable Montanans. Mr. Daines had a career in the private sector, including six years in China working for Procter & Gamble, before going into politics. Mr. Tester is a third-generation dirt farmer and former schoolteacher, first elected to the Senate in 2006. I once ran into him at Costco (here in Washington, not Montana) – he’s hard to miss with his distinctive flattop – and we had a nice chat.

But there’s no denying the yin and yang of their relationship. At our well-attended May 2 breakfast, Mr. Daines was soon taking another dig at his state’s senior senator: “It’s almost as if there’s two different states represented, truly. If you look at Jon Tester’s voting record, it’s 95% with Joe Biden.”

And, Mr. Daines added for good measure, “I’m pretty sure by the time we get to November, Montanans will have a very clear view of what his voting record has been like.”

Maybe this Montana odd couple’s days are numbered. But with six months to go before Election Day, the game has just begun.

Watch the full video here. Read our coverage here.

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Mark Sappenfield

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