Sen. Jon Tester is a Democrat representing Montana. That's something unusual because Montana loves their guns and Democrats historically don't.

They don't love your guns, at least.

But Tester has done a pretty good job of dodging the anti-gun label over the years, which is how he's managed to stay in office in a very red state. However, he's also a vulnerable Democrat because he's a blue voice in a very red state.

Unfortunately, it seems he's siding with the wrong group of people if he wants to keep the illusion up.

Over at The Gun Writer, Lee Williams reports an interesting discovery about Tester and his campaign efforts this time around and he's only sort of pretending anymore.

Tester’s 2A tap dancing ended Friday at around 3 p.m., when he sent an email to his supporters announcing that Brady PAC would match campaign donations for 48 hours:

Sent: 6/7/2024 11:04:04 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Subject: The next 48 hours are key

Hi folks, it’s Jon Tester. I’ve got some big news, some bad news, and some good news. 

Here’s the big news: I officially have a GOP opponent in the race for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat—Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate, Tim Sheehy.

But the bad news is: McConnell and all of his super PAC buddies are spending a whopping $65 million to prop up their handpicked candidate and attack me. In a race as close as this, every dollar could make the difference. 

And the good news: A group of generous donors saw the polls tightening and agreed to match every donation for the next 48 hours. 

Opportunities like this don’t come around often, and we need to take advantage of them while they’re here. This is the best time to make a difference in our campaign, and your gift will go twice as far.

Will you become a General Election Founding donor by splitting a MATCHED donation between my campaign and Brady PAC now?

I’m proud to say that I rely on grassroots support from folks like you.

Let’s go win this thing,

Jon

The move was somewhat hush-hush. Brady PAC’s fund-matching agreement was not mentioned anywhere on Tester’s reelection website, and Tester was not included in a list of endorsed candidates on Brady PAC’s site.

The fact that Brady will match donations but won't put him on their list of endorsed candidates means that they know their brand is toxic, so they don't want to make it too easy for people to see that Tester sides with them on the issue of guns and gun control.

They all know that Montanans aren't thrilled with the prospect of sending a gun grabber back to Washington, so they're playing sort of sneaky about it.

Not well, mind you, because they did send this out in an email with a link making it clear Brady is matching funds, but Tester's not touting Brady's help in press releases or anything like that. He wants their money without drawing too much attention to their handout. 

It's really time for Tester to enter political retirement. Anyone who thinks this is a winning strategy in Montana is as senile as Biden.