Tester stakes Mon­tana Sen­ate race on con­vinc­ing GOP vot­ers he’s dif­fer­ent than Biden

Mon­tana vot­ers will nom­i­nate their Repub­li­can and Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­ate can­di­dates next week in a hot­ly con­test­ed race that is quick­ly esca­lat­ing and could deter­mine con­trol of the upper cham­ber.
Sen. Jon Tester’s (D‑MT) strat­e­gy to secure a fourth con­sec­u­tive term this Novem­ber hinges on dis­tanc­ing him­self from Pres­i­dent Joe Biden, as the incum­bent hopes to win over enough Repub­li­cans in a state where for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump dom­i­nat­ed in 2020 by more than 16 points.
“[The race] is as tight as a tick on a hound dog,” Demo­c­ra­t­ic strate­gist Brad Ban­non said. “Giv­en his polit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion, which is pret­ty hairy, his best move is to empha­size his local roots.”
Tester is a vir­tu­al shoo-in for Tuesday’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic pri­ma­ry in Big Sky Coun­try. He faces one oppo­nent, Demo­c­rat Michael Hum­mert, who has not filed any cam­paign finance reports and does not appear to have an oper­at­ing bud­get.
Repub­li­can and ex-Navy SEAL Tim Shee­hy is heav­i­ly favored in the GOP pri­ma­ry against for­mer Mon­tana Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­mis­sion­er Brad John­son and past con­gres­si …