A screenshot of U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, talking with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
It could be the bad blood of a simmering grudge match between the former President of the United States and Montana’s senior Democratic Senator that began years ago.
It could be a sign of growing concern among GOP leaders who are coalescing around a new Republican candidate.
Or, it could just be the bare-knuckled politics of 2024.
Whatever the reason, Republicans have amped up their personal attacks on U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in the past few months, referring to him as 350 pounds of a number of things.
As a record-breaking amount of money has been dumped into a U.S. Senate campaign that could tip the balance of power in Washington, D.C., the race between three-term incumbent Tester and Republican businessman Tim Sheehy may be taking on a more personal tone — at least for the GOP.
The Daily Montanan has noted an increasing number of interviews and media appearances, namely by Rep. Ryan Zinke, one of Montana’s congressmen and former Interior Secretary, taking jabs at Tester’s appearance and weight. Zinke is facing his own challenging race in the Treasure State’s western district as he takes on Democratic challenger Monica Tranel.
But Republican fingerprints are all over the Tester-Sheehy race as Sheehy was handpicked by Montana’s junior Senator, Steve Daines, who is leading the GOP efforts in the Senate as the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
However, as Sheehy has been mostly absent from large gatherings other than carefully planned appearances on media often favorable to conservative candidates, Zinke appears to be fighting a proxy war for his fellow U.S. Navy SEAL.
On at least five different occasions since August, Zinke has mocked Tester’s appearance, saying that he’s 350 pounds of “bovine exhaust.”
Zinke’s campaign did not answer questions sent by the Daily Montanan involving his media appearances or the strategy of going on the offensive to attack a candidate in a different race, when he himself is facing a close political battle.
Meanwhile, a Montana political science professor said the move could suggest more about the Republicans in the state than it does about Tester’s weight.
“The reason for negative campaign ads is the fact most people have a negativity bias. When we look at past experiences, we often remember the negative parts far more than the positive. Negative campaigning tries to capitalize on this bias,” said political science professor Paul Pope of Montana State University-Billings. “When campaigns are making arguments and claims that have nothing to do with law, policy or governing, they are grasping at anything out of desperation. A move like this suggests that Sheehy and his network of supporters are feeling desperate and unsure about winning the race.”
Tester’s campaign said the new personal attacks are a deliberate distraction.
“Multimillionaire out-of-stater Tim Sheehy will do anything to avoid talking about two things: His lies and his own record. Sheehy is facing scrutiny for his lies about his military service, like a gunshot wound that he claimed was from combat but federal records say was self-inflicted in Glacier National Park,” said Tester for Montana communications director Monica Robinson. “He’s dodging questions about leaked audio of him calling young women ‘indoctrinated’ because they support reproductive freedom. And he’s trying to cover up his support for transferring off our public lands, so his rich buddies can buy them up. So it’s no wonder Sheehy is lashing out to talk about anything other than how wrong he is for Montana.”
Most recently, Zinke appear on the Fox Business Network with host Maria Bartiromo on Oct. 17 and declared Tester was “350 pounds of bovine exhaust.” Previously, he had said that Tester was “bovine extraction,” and “350 pounds of bullsh—t.”
That echoed what The Washington Post reported on Oct. 16, when Zinke told it that Tester was “350 pounds of B.S.”
It’s not the first time Tester’s appearance has been noticed. Tester has become legendary in the state and in Washington, D.C., for his flat-top haircut, his missing fingers (a product of a childhood accident with a meat grinder) and his dirt-dusted outfits.
The personal attacks and rhetoric amped up after former President Donald J. Trump, a Republican, visited Montana during the summer, bringing along now-Congressman Ronny Jackson of Texas. Previously, when Trump was president, Tester became one of the targets of Trump’s rage for criticizing Jackson, who served as the White House physician.
In 2018, Trump stopped in Montana several times campaigning for Republican Matt Rosendale, who was then running to challenge Tester.
Tester seemed to dodge Trump’s attempt to hurt him, despite the fact that Trump has consistently won Montana by a wide margin.
Physician to the President U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson meets with Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in his office in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 16, 2018 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Jackson now blames Tester as part of the reason he left as the White House medical physician after reports of drug and alcohol use under Jackson’s watch, reporting which was later corroborated.
But Trump and Jackson appeared together in Montana earlier this summer in Bozeman to kick off a “Tester retirement party” where both men took shots at Tester’s appearance.
Trump called Tester a “slob,” while Jackson referred to him as a “swamp hippopotamus,” during his visit to Montana State University earlier this summer.
Since then, new evidence has surfaced of Sheehy targeting his opponent’s appearance even as long as a year ago. In tapes that were recently released by the Char-Koosta News, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation, Sheehy could be heard likening the Senator to “Jabba The Hut” — the cartoonishly overweight outlaw from the “Star Wars” franchise.
Pope, the political scientist, said that the recent efforts to amp up the personal attacks on Tester may signal that the race has become tighter than previous polling, not something that is unusual in political races drawing nearer to Election Day.
“As a strategy, it is not only unprofessional, but a sign of weakness in my professional opinion. It is nothing that a voter can truly base their vote on,” Pope said. “I do think things are closer. Now, internal polling from Sheehy and Tester may show something different. Independent polls have (Kamala) Harris way out ahead of Trump, but TV news polls have things much closer. So, the same could be true of the Sheehy-Tester race.
“This race may be decided by a few thousand votes. Anything less and it may be decided by the courts.”
The Tester campaign has largely ignored the comments, even at times embracing the image of being a “dirt farmer.” In another commercial that aired earlier this campaign season, Tester’s wife, Sharla, mocks a character actor used by Sheehy and the Republicans to portray Tester, saying the actor has all his fingers, and is not handsome as her husband.
In a recent letter to the editor, Sharla Tester took aim at some of the personal attacks levied against the Senator.
“They’re lying about Jon’s record on the border, even though he’s working to secure the border and hire more Border Patrol agents. And the most absurd ad of all? They’re saying my husband doesn’t support white Montana farmers — even though he sees one in the mirror every day,” Sharla Tester said in a recent letter-to-the-editor published in several outlets.