Jon Tester pushes for ticket-splitters in a Montana Senate race that appears to be slipping away
Trump voters look set to decide the Senate majority. The main fight in Montana is all about how many of them longtime Democratic Sen. Jon Tester can entice to split their tickets.
BUTTE, Mont. — Tim Combo arrived at the second-floor union hall of the Western States Carpenters in Butte covered in dust and grime from a day spent on the job Wednesday. Combo, a 27-year union carpenter, feels deeply that the election will directly affect his life — and he has made his choice.
“I came up here to vote for Jon Tester, and I am going to vote for Donald Trump, as well,” Combo said at the hall, where Tester was speaking.
Combo represents the best hope for Tester, a three-term Democrat, to win another election for the Senate — and with it, the possibility that Democrats will maintain a slim majority in the chamber, which is split 51-49. But ticket-splitters like him are becoming less common with every passing election in a polarized U.S., giving Republicans a very good chance of capturing the majority this fall.
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