On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Senator Jon Tester of Montana would lead Democrats’ inquiry into flying objects that entered US airspace in recent weeks. The announcement comes after the Senate reported an influx of UFO sightings in recent weeks.
Over the weekend, Mr Tester, a three-term senator, tweeted that he was aware of a flying object in Montana’s airspace and, more pointedly, said he supported a move to shoot it out of the sky. .
Mr Tester is one of three Democratic senators – along with Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio – who represent a state that Donald Trump won twice but has not yet announced that he will Will seek another term or not? But the new assignment gives Mr. Tester a chance to look like he’s holding the administration accountable for flying objects and create some daylight between himself and the White House, especially if he ultimately decides to run again. does.
Sporting a flat-top haircut and 300 pounds and six feet tall with three left fingers lost in a meat grinder as a kid, Mr. Tester looks the part of someone from Big Sky Country. Back home in Big Sandy, he runs a farm and regularly removes profanity. When I told him last week that Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is older than him, he told me “Yeah, no ***.”
When Independent Catching up with Mr Tester on Wednesday, he explained what he wanted to investigate.
“I think it’s more about how we’re preparing for detection and determination and how we bring them down and we have a plan to do what we have to do,” he said. “I think going forward, we have to do a better job of determining whether they really are a threat, and then how do we bring them down.”
Asked about the response from the Biden administration, he said, “So far so good. They have been responsive to me.
Mr Tester also said he would make a decision about re-election “hopefully, very soon”.
Democrats expect him to announce he will run for another term as they see him as his best shot at holding onto the crucial seat in Montana in a difficult year for Senate Democrats.
But he will face a tough challenge. He won his first Senate race in 2006, during a wave of discontent with the Iraq War and George W. Bush’s administration. This was a time when Democrats could still appeal to rural areas. He won another term in 2012, while Barack Obama lost the state in 2008 after nearly winning it. Opposition to the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court (Mr. Manchin voted for Mr. Kavanaugh’s confirmation).
Mr Tester will face a tough challenge in 2024 if he seeks another term, given that President Joe Biden lost the state by double digits. Unlike Mr. Manchin, Mr. Tester is more of a loyal foot soldier for Mr. Biden, having supported Build Back Better before it withered away.
But he also made important achievements during this tenure. He was part of a bipartisan negotiating group that passed the infrastructure legislation, which included now-independent Senator Kirsten Sinema and Republican Senator Mitt Romney, becoming a good friend despite Mr. Tester’s potty mouth and Mr. Romney’s latter-day Saint nature. went. As chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr. Tester also led the successful charge to extend health benefits to service members who suffered health complications from burn pits.
Still, during last week’s State of the Union, as Mr. Biden worked the room, he shook Mr. Tester’s hand warmly and called him “Big John” as the senator flashed a giant grin at the president.
Overall, the UFO investigation is the perfect opportunity for Mr. Tester to criticize the administration and perhaps save his seat in the process.