Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a key voice for Democrats on veterans and army spending points, misplaced his re-election bid on Tuesday to Republican challenger Tim Sheehy, an consequence that gave GOP leaders the bulk within the Senate.
The Related Press referred to as the race in favor of Sheehy early Wednesday morning, with the Republican main by practically 8% within the vote.
Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL who additionally graduated from Military Ranger College as a part of a particular operations change program between the providers. He courted controversy throughout his marketing campaign for claiming to have been shot whereas serving in Afghanistan, regardless of no army information backing up the declare.
His victory will add one other veteran to the record of outstanding Republicans with army service within the Senate, together with Arkansas’ Tom Cotton and Florida’s Rick Scott.
Tester’s defeat represents a major political setback for the Democratic Social gathering, not simply due to the lack of management of the Senate but additionally due to Tester’s management on a bunch of nationwide safety and veterans points.
He has served within the Senate since 2007 and been chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee since 2017. Tester was a number one voice on the PACT Act — laws which supplied incapacity advantages and expanded well being care to thousands and thousands of veterans with army poisonous publicity accidents — forward of its passage in 2022.
Tester has served because the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s protection panel for the final three years, serving to information annual funding selections for the Division of Protection.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White Home for Navy Occasions. He has coated Washington, D.C. since 2004, specializing in army personnel and veterans insurance policies. His work has earned quite a few honors, together with a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 Nationwide Headliner Award, the IAVA Management in Journalism award and the VFW Information Media award.
