Numerous speakers – including one of the President’s sons - targeted Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester at a Republican event Friday night in Billings.
Donald Trump Jr. told the crowd Tester and the Democrat’s party platform have fallen out of step with Montanans. He alleged they support illegal immigration, sanctuary cities and legislation against the 2nd amendment.
“That sounds like an incredible platform if you’re running for mayor of New York City,” Trump Jr. said. “I’m the son of a billionaire from New York City and I have much more of a Montana platform than the Senator, senior Senator, from this state. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Trump Jr. told a crowd of about 350 Republicans his father has made a number of accomplishments since he took office about a year and a half ago, but all of it is at stake in the upcoming mid-term elections.
“Just because Donald Trump isn’t on the 2018 ticket doesn’t mean that he’s not on it,” he said. “Every policy of success, all of the winning, all of the resolve, all of the benefits of real hardworking Americans have seen and will continue to reap they can all go away like that.”
Trump Jr said that’s why he came to Billings to campaign for GOP Senate candidate Matt Rosendale. The current State Auditor emerged as the winner of the Republican’s June 5th primary election.
- Matt Rosendale: 51,859 votes 34%
- Russ Fagg: 43,465 votes 28%
- Troy Downing: 29,341votes 19%
- Albert Olszewski: 28,681 19%
Trump Jr said he would be back to Montana for another campaign event and urged Republicans to stay motivated.
“Again I know the mid-terms are not necessarily an exciting time,” he said. “The other side is motivated. They’re motivated by hate and they’ve got a lot of people from outside the dark zone of this country, everything between New York and Malibu.”
Nationally Republicans have targeted Montana’s U.S. Senate race in hopes of knocking out the Democratic incumbent Jon Tester.
Tester already was in President Donald Trump’s cross hairs after the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee released allegations last spring against Ronny Jackson, the former Trump nominee to be the next VA Secretary until Jackson withdrew his name. Afterwards Trump launched a series of tweets against Tester saying the Democrat would pay politically. Trump also suggested he may make a campaign swing in the state.
“I hope he comes,” Tester said when YPR asked him about that this past May at the annual Truman Dinner in Billings.
He said he hoped the President would tour the state’s veterans’ facilities and get look at the shortage of providers, examine the U-S-Canada border that doesn’t get much attention, and look at the state’s infrastructure needs, “not only roads and bridges and sewer and water but also broadband.”
“So him coming to the state is not necessarily a bad thing,” said Tester. “I think there’s a lot of things he can do and get done.”
Montana voters in the general election will be asked to choose among four candidates besides Tester and Rosendale, including Green Party Candidate Steve Kelly and Libertarian Rick Breckenridge.
