BUDGET/DEMS/GOP/POLITICAL FIGURES: “Every Democratic senator from a Republican-leaning state voted Monday [1-22-18] to reopen the government, from the liberal Sherrod Brown of Ohio to the conservative Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Every one, that is, except Jon Tester. Republicans are determined to make him pay.
The plainspoken Montanan was on a glide path to a third term despite the conservative tilt of his state — among the safest of red-state Democratic incumbents on the November ballot. Everything broke his way: First, President Donald Trump plucked former Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) for his Cabinet. Then, Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) body-slammed a reporter shortly before he was elected to replace Zinke. And, finally, Republican state Attorney General Tim Fox passed on a bid. Those were Tester’s three most formidable potential challengers. But the spending vote has injected new life into Republicans’ hopes of giving Tester a fight — despite the senator’s adamance that he was doing right by his state.
Montana is one of five states that Trump won handily where Democrats are up for reelection this fall. And though Tester is recognized as a savvy campaigner, the GOP is hoping to make his race competitive enough to at least distract resources from other states, if not defeat Tester outright.
Tester recognizes the political risk he took. But he insisted in an interview that he had to send a message to party leaders that he wouldn’t abide shortchanging rural hospitals in his state and leaving the military in limbo.
Still, this could be the rare case when a single vote looms large in a Senate race. At the very least, Tester’s path to reelection certainly looks rockier than it did a week ago.”
-Burgess Everett and Kevin Robillard, “Tester puts reelection on the line with risky shutdown vote,” Politico, Jan. 25, 2018 05:01am