Democratic control of the Senate depends on seven fingers farms

“WThe chicken says Dirt, you will say a farmer. I understood it? “The crowd is packed in a small room off the main street in Bouzmann, Montana, who is quickly committed Mc. “Dirt!” “farms!” “Dirt!” “farms!” Thus, a march for John begins a test. “I did not get a large margin of victory, and I will not get one this time,” Democrat warns in the third period, who is running for his re -election to the Senate in November.

The seven most competitive races in the Senate this year are seats that Democrats are now occupied (or, in one case, independent Democrats). Democrats will need to keep them all to keep the room control. Most of these seven in swinging states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada). Ohio and Montana where Democrats will cut their work. The function of Mr. Tester will be the most difficult. He will have to persuade voters in a state that Mr. Trump won 16 points in 2020 to send a democratic to represent them in Washington. The average of recent opinion polls indicates that it runs nearly three points behind Tim Shihi, his Republican opponent. However, it should be noted that a number of these polls are Republican opinion polls, or the respondents for the Republicans.

From the third generation of Montana farms, Mr. Tester lost three fingers as a child when they were arrested in the meat mill in his family butcher. In the gathering in Bouzmann, he title the microphone in the empty space between his thumb and his little finger. His first function in politics was working on the local soil preservation committee (“Dirt!” He votes with his fellow Democrats most of the time, but he speaks more strict than the Biden administration on issues that threaten Republicans, such as border security.

This year, Mr. Tester may run out. Montana was once. But it turned into the Republicans, where the power of the Union, which was a great force in Montana, decreased, and the policy became more nationalized. Local democrats have an injury. “It is fun to be in Bouzman – where I am surrounded by Democrats – however we will describe it as a red state,” says Julia Shida, President of Democrats. If Mr. Tester loses, this will be the first time since 1911 that Montana had two Republican Senate members. There are only six states that now have members of the Senate from various parties, the lowest number since 1914, when the Americans began to elect members of the Senate with popular vote.

Republicans targeted the state early. The Chairman of the Republican National Century Committee, in charge of choosing Republicans in the Senate, is Steve Denz of Montana. With his knowledge of the country, Mr. Tester’s opponent chose manually: Mr. Sheehy is the previous navy seal And a millionaire in the late thirties, who founded the Air Fire Control Company. He is successful and Liljini, but he was unprecedented for positions, so he was subject to a series of strange disclosure, including the comments made by the indigenous Americans, and fencing stories about a bullet wound in his right arm. Mr. Shihi insists that he was shot while serving in Afghanistan. but Washington Post Drilling the records that indicate that the gun came out when it accidentally dropped it while walking in the National Glacier Park. Mr. Shihi denies this version of events.

Mr. Tester seems more conservative when he promises to “defend Montana” than “wealthy strangers”. Some of the population who lived in the state for 50 years is a list to call themselves the real Montanse. By photographing Mr. Shihi as a carpet that moved from Minnesota in 2014, Mr. Tester tries to link his opponent to the issue that dominates state policy: growth. Montana’s population grew faster than all other states, except for four other states between 2020 and 2023, when the American epidemic pushed to search for a larger space and pure air. “Boz Angeles” has become a humiliating title for Bozeman, where the local Sotheby office announces rural real estate. Politicians alternate their concern for these newcomers, and compete for their voices. Data from to2, a company that brings together voter records, indicates that 39 % of people who moved to Montana since 2018, when Mr. Tester won his re -election in the past, was a Republican previously registered, compared to 24 % of registered Democrats.

To win, Mr. Tester must put his base in densely populated places such as the province of Galatin, where many Democrats and young voters live. Local Democrats argue that switching at the top of the ticket from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris has increased enthusiasm. They also hope that the polling procedure will perpetuate the right to abortion in the state’s constitution.

But there is not enough Democrats in Montana to ensure that Mr. Tester wins, even with the turn of the monster. Voters are not registered with the parties in Montana, but a recent poll from Emerson College indicates that approximately 30 % consider themselves independent. The job operator must appeal six Trump test provinces, which voted in his favor in 2018 and Donald Trump in 2020.

Consider Park Province. Tester signs are abundant in Livingston, the big city, but Sheehy’s stickers look deeper leading your correspondence to the Valley of Paradise – stagnant homes, farms, and busson herd. Park County is a republican country, “declares a mark on the side of the bright road. Montana will discover soon.■

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