Former President Donald Trump had flown to Montana for a rally on Friday evening to oust the state’s Democratic senator, but according to airport staff, his plane had to be diverted to an airport on the other side of the Rocky Mountains because of a technical defect.
Trump’s plane was en route to Bozeman, Montana, when it was diverted to Billings, 142 miles east, on Friday afternoon, according to Jenny Mockeladministrative assistant at Billings Logan International Airport. Mockel said the former president flew on to Bozeman on a private jet.
Trump’s campaign released a video of him landing in which he said he was happy to be in Montana, but made no mention of the landing.
The former president came to Montana in the hope of Unfinished business from 2018, when he repeatedly campaigned in Big Sky Country and unsuccessfully tried to oust the incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator. Jon Tester.
Tester has tried to convince voters that he is on Trump’s side on many issues, repeating his successful strategy from six years ago. that worked in a non-presidential election year, it faces a more critical test in the autumn with Tester’s opponent, former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehyto link the three-term incumbent with the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Harris benefited at the national level from a surge in enthusiasm among the core Democratic electorate, which had grown after President Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign last month. She has drawn large crowds in swing states and was on tour with the governor of Minnesota this week. Tim Walzher election as candidate for the vice presidency.
“I don’t have to go there because I run those states,” he said. “I go because I want to help senators and congressmen get elected.”
He will make additional donation stops in Wyoming and Colorado.
Trump could be decisive in the Senate race in Montana
Friday’s rally at Montana State University, scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Mountain Time, is expected to draw thousands of GOP supporters. But the former president’s greater impact may simply be having his name ahead of Sheehy’s on the ballot in November, the University of Montana political analyst said. Rob Saldin.
“There is a part of the electorate that will go to the polls if Trump is on the ballot,” Saldin said. And that could benefit Sheehy, a Trump supporter and newcomer to politics who made a fortune with an aerial firefighting company.
The Republicans have was on a winning streak He has been in Montana for over a decade and now holds every office in the state except Tester.
Tester won all his previous Senate elections by a narrow margin and presented himself as an open-hearted farmer who builds personal relationships with the people of Montana and is willing to break with his party on issues that are important to the people. He has also become a successful fundraiser.
The race has drawn national attention because Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate and have been able to defend far more seats than Republicans this year. Tester is considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents.
For him to win, many Trump supporters would have to vote split and support the Democratic senator.
Trump’s push to oust Tester dates back to the lawmaker’s work in 2018 as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Tester exposed past misconduct by Trump’s personal physician. Ronny Jacksonwhich thwarted Jackson’s nomination to head the Department of Veterans Affairs
Then-President Trump took the matter personally and came to Montana four times to campaign for the Republicans. Matt Rosendalewho was state auditor at the time. Rosendale lost by 3 percentage points.
Tester has distanced himself from the national Democrats
Before Trump’s recent visit, Tester tried to hedge against accusations that he was part of the Democratic establishment by naming Republicans who support him, including the former governor of Montana. Marc RacicotHis campaign centered on more than 20 bills sponsored by Tester and signed by Trump, many of which addressed veterans’ concerns.
Tester was also the only Democratic delegate from Montana who did not cast a vote for Harris as the party’s presidential candidate after Biden’s withdrawal. And when the Democratic convention takes place in Chicago later this month, Tester will be back in Montana “to farm and meet the people of Montana in person,” said campaign spokesman Harry Child said.
The last time Tester attended the Democratic National Convention was in 2008. That was also the last time a Democratic presidential candidate came anywhere close to winning in Montana. President Barack Obama a loss of just over 2 percentage points.
A similar situation is developing in Ohio, where the three-time Democrat US Senator Sherrod Brown faces a tough election campaign in a state that is expected to vote for Trump.
Harris visited Ohio when the two were Senate colleagues to raise money for Brown’s 2018 campaign, but Brown has said he has no plans to campaign with her this year. Like Tester, Brown has pointed to legislation he helped write that Trump signed.
Friday’s rally will take place in Gallatin County, which Tester has increasingly relied on throughout his political career.
He lost the district in his first Senate race in 2006, but his support has grown since then. A decisive victory in Gallatin in 2018 helped him win over Rosendale.
republican Don Seiferta former Gallatin County commissioner, said he voted for Tester this year and plans to do so again this year.
Seifert endorsed Trump in 2016 and said he continues to support other Republicans, including the governor of Montana. Greg Gianforte and US Senator. Steve Daines.
“Montana residents are voting for the person rather than the party,” Seifert said. “For the state of Montana, Jon is the person who can do what we need.”
But Sheehy says Tester has lost touch with his home state and fallen in line with Democrats in Washington. The Republican said in a message to supporters this week that Tester was “responsible for the rise of Kamala Harris” because he chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2015 to 2017, when she was elected to the Senate for California.
Tester has raised more than three times the amount in campaign contributions reported to the Federal Election Commission. However, outside groups supporting Sheehy have helped the Republican make up much of that shortfall. Campaign spending is expected to exceed $200 million as Montana’s airwaves are flooded with advertising from both sides.
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Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
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