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Jon Tester (born August 21, 1956) is a Democratic politician from Montana and candidate for the United States Senate in 2006. Tester is the current President of the Montana State Senate.
Background Jon Tester was born in Havre, Montana and grew up in Chouteau County, near the town of Big Sandy, Montana, on the same family land that his grandfather homesteaded in 1916. The small town is also the birthplace of Jeff Ament of popular rock band Pearl Jam, who played a concert in Missoula in support of Tester's US Senate bid. * Tester grew up helping his family on their conventional farm, as well as helping run their butcher shop. Beginning in the late 1980s, Tester moved toward the more profitable organic farming; his family now grows organic wheat, barley, lentils, peas, millet, buckwheat, alfalfa and hay. They still operate their butcher shop for close friends and relatives, but no longer need it as a source of income. * As an adolescent, Tester lost three fingers on his left hand in an accident while working with a meat grinder. Tester has a Bachelor of Science degree in music from the University of Great Falls. He was subsequently a music teacher in the Big Sandy School District for a brief time, before returning to farming. Tester’s wife of 27 years, Sharla, also grew up in north-central Montana and comes from an agricultural family. Jon and Sharla have a daughter, Christine (son-in-law James), a son, Shon, and one grandchild, Kilikina. Political career Tester served for five years as chairman of the Big Sandy School Board of Trustees, and served on the Big Sandy Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Committee and the Chouteau County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) Committee. Tester was first elected to the Montana State Senate in 1998. He was elected the minority whip for the 2001 session. After being re-elected in 2002, he became minority leader for the 2003 session. In 2005, Tester was elected President of the Montana Senate, the chief presiding officer of the Montana Legislature’s upper chamber. His election as President marked a significant transition for Montana Democrats as they moved into the majority leadership of the Senate for the first time in more than a decade. Term limits prohibit Tester from running for state Senate for a third time. 2006 U.S. Senate race Tester announced his candidacy in May 2005 for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by incumbent Republican senator Conrad Burns, who has faced several scandals in recent months. Tester was the second Democrat to jump into the race, after state Auditor John Morrison. While Tester was seen as having a greater following among his fellow legislators and progressives, his opponent, whose grandfather was governor of Nebraska, had been able to raise significantly more money and had greater statewide name recognition. Morrison had collected $1.05 million as of the start of 2006, including $409,241 in the last three months of 2005. *, but "Morrison’s advantages in fundraising and name identification have not translated into a lead in the polls"*, most of which showed the race exceedingly tight, some calling it a "deadlock" as of late May. * On May 31, 2006, Paul Richards, another candidate in the race, citing the closeness of the race, and his own position in the polls, threw his support to Jon Tester *. On June 6, 2006, Tester won the Democratic primary by a margin of over 25 points, much larger than expected given the previous polling. Burns easily won the Republican primary. The two will face each other in the November general election. In early September 2006, Rasmussen reported that Tester led in polling 48% to 45%. The poll confirms others that have shown Tester leading between 7% and a tie in polls with Burns since he won the Democratic primary. | ||||||||
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