Senate control may rest on a lone Montana Democrat
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 October 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
Jon Tester is one of the last Senate Democrats standing in a red state. First elected in 2006, he pitches his bipartisan record and his Montana roots as an antidote to national political warfare. He still farms the land his grandparents settled in the state and has a personal relationship with voters. But the state he represents is changing. The Republican candidate, businessman and veteran Tim Sheehy, has accused Tester of being too liberal for Montana, a state that voted for Trump by more than 16 percentage points in 2020.
On today’s “Post Reports,” host Martine Powers speaks with reporter Liz Goodwin, who traveled to Montana with producer Laura Benshoff, about the race and the Republican voters who used to like Tester and will probably decide his fate.
This episode was produced by Laura Benshoff, with help from Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Reena Flores, with help from Ariel Plotnick. It was mixed by Sean Carter. Thank you to Emily Ruahala and Jesse Mesner-Hage.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I just get you to say where we are right now. |
| 0:05.0 | So, actually didn't notice the town. |
| 0:10.0 | Oh, three forks maybe? |
| 0:12.0 | Three forks junction? |
| 0:14.0 | A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues reporter Liz Goodwin and producer Laura Benchoff |
| 0:19.0 | took a reporting trip to Montana. |
| 0:22.0 | So we're in 3-4x junction. |
| 0:24.9 | There's a big gas station and then there's |
| 0:27.2 | this cute little bakery. |
| 0:29.6 | And we're going to try to get some people |
| 0:31.1 | to talk to us about the Senate race. |
| 0:34.8 | They posted up at that gas station, surrounded by planes and farmland, |
| 0:39.9 | and that is where Liz Flagged down a rancher named Wiley Gustafson. |
| 0:44.3 | Hi. |
| 0:46.3 | Are you a Montana resident by any chance? |
| 0:49.6 | We're trying to talk to people about the Senate race for a podcast? |
| 0:52.7 | Would you? |
| 0:53.7 | We probably don't want to hear what. |
| 0:54.7 | Oh, we do. |
| 0:55.7 | We really want to hear what. |
| 0:56.7 | So Gustafson in many ways is exemplifying this old school Montana political type where he's conservative but he's also voted for |
| 1:04.8 | Democrats in the past and he also identifies a little bit as a Libertarian. |
... |
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