68 things to know about Jon Tester

Meet Montana’s Public Lands Champion and Top Defender of Montana’s Outdoor way of Life

• First elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006
• Proud grandfather of three kids
• Earned a music degree from University of Providence, formerly College of Great Falls
• Worked as the music teacher at Big Sandy’s elementary school
• Played taps for WWI and WWII veterans as a kid
• Before serving in the U.S. Senate, he never lived more than two hours away from his north-central Montana farm
• Served on the Big Sandy school board before his election to the Montana State Legislature in 1998
• Served in the Montana Senate from 1999 to 2007, and as its President for his last two years in the Chamber
• Lost three fingers to a meat grinder when he nine 
• Met his wife Sharla at a church barbecue when she beat him in a game of softball
• Been married for 46 years
• Trademark flattop by Big Sandy barber only costs $12
• Ran a custom butcher shop for many years
• Still butchers his own meat and regularly hauls it to Washington in a carry-on suitcase
• Endorsed by Montana Conservation Voters for U.S. Senate
• Only working farmer in the U.S. Senate
• Third-generation Montana farmer
• Still farms the same land homesteaded by his grandparents in 1912
• The farm has been organic since the 1980s
• Grows organic lentils, and they’re so good that President Bush has asked for them
• Secured construction of the Travis W. Atkins VA Clinic in Bozeman and pushed for a new clinic in Kalispell so that thousands more veterans could receive care
• Championed the PACT act, expanding healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances such as Agent Orange
• Chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee
• Led a bill to improve the VA crisis line
• Led a bill to improve healthcare and services for veterans exposed to toxic substances
• Passed a bill to guarantee that more veterans exposed to Agent Orange receive the critical care and benefits they need
• Passed a bill to eliminate barriers to care that female veterans face.
• Consistently ranked the number one most effective lawmaker in the U.S. Senate
• Recognized as one of the top 10 most bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate
• 3rd most-present US Senator, missing only 1% of all possible votes from 2007 to August 2024
• Wrote the 5th most laws out of all other senators in the 117th U.S. Senate
• Primary sponsor of 18 bills that were enacted into law in his tenure in the Senate. Only about 9% of legislation is actually passed
• Has gotten more cosponsors on his bills that 80% of other senators
• Got bipartisan cosponsors 75% of the time, more than 89% of other senators
• Serves on the Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Was the first Senator to post his daily public schedule online, allowing Montanans to see who he is meeting with and how he is working for the state
• Secured $5 billion for the Clean School Bus Program to provide grants for replacing current school buses with electric and zero-emission buses 
• Secured $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to improve long-distance charging corridors
• Secured $24 million to expand a critical stretch of Kagy Blvd. (making Bozeman safer!)
• Secured $85 million to improve affordable housing 
• Secured $170 million to build local housing resources
• Introduced legislation to help veterans using the VA home loan exit forbearance and get their mortgage payments back on track
• Secured $680,000 for street safety improvements in the Flathead
• Secured $1 million to clean up and revitalize the old industrial part of downtown Billings
• Led a bill to create a 75% federal tax credit offsetting capital gains if the property is sold to a resident-owned cooperative or nonprofit
• Served on the Chouteau County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Committee
• Led a bill ensuring that disabled first responders get the same retirement benefits of able-bodied responders
• Only member of the Montana delegation to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for the price of prescription drugs – roughly 25,000 Montana seniors will now see cost savings of 75%
• Helped name a mountain after important conservationist Alex Diekmann, who helped preserve more than 100,000 acres of public land for future generations before tragically dying of cancer 
• Championed and secured full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has funded projects in every county of Montana from soccer fields to public pools to large landscape conservation projects 
• Prevented 30,000 acres of public land near the Paradise Valley from falling into the hands of mining companies with the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act
• Delivered funding to strengthen the power grid in Flathead County, reducing the chance of wildfires and ensuring residents have electricity during extreme weather
• Secured funding to clean up Kalispell’s drinking water
• Pushed back and secured federal dollars to keep  hunter education accessible
• Secured over $1 million for 35 renewable energy infrastructure projects in Montana
• Served on the Big Sandy Soil Conservation Service Committee
• Worked with Montanans to introduce the collaborative, Montana-made Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act to protect vital tributaries to the Blackfoot River and the communities that rely on it
• Championed the Headwaters Legacy Act, a bill that would protect hundreds of miles of Montana streams
• Secured $27 billion to invest in three restoration landscapes to protect fish and wildlife species and their vital habitat
• Led the bipartisan Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act and North Fork Protection Act, which ensure these treasured places can be enjoyed for future generations
• Secured over $350 million for rural Montana water infrastructure including the Rocky Boy’s/North Central, Milk River and Musselshell-Judith projects
• Delivered $916 million for Yellowstone National Park flood recovery
• Led two bills to take action on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis 
• Worked with Montana tribes to improve infrastructure on reservations, such as upgrading internet access, water systems, health facilities, and transportation
• Voted to unveil dark money contributions in political campaigns to ensure transparent and fair political campaigns
• Consistently supports expanding voting rights for all Americans
• Voted to reinstate the Superfund tax on polluters, protecting communities experiencing disproportionate impacts of industrial pollution
• Sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs