fighter jet program after the cost for Lockheed to make the aircraft had overrun what was budgeted due to inflation and the pandemic. Without the extra funding, the previously approved planes were at risk of being canceled. The aircraft manufacturer was also looking to close out a multi-year deal with theTester’s subcommittee successfully pushed to add $1.8 billion “for the restoration of all 19 at-risk aircraft,” according to an explanatory statement from the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In recent campaign cycles, Democrats have faced calls to reject checks from corporate political action committees. But Tester is also under reelection pressure as he faces a potentially challenging race back home in Montana, where his small-town farming roots and populist reputation have helped him survive the state’s increasingly conservative tilt.
Tester has proven politically resilient, now as the only Democrat to hold statewide office in Montana. Tester in that race positioned himself as a fighter for the middle class who could take on a government that had become “an auction where the folks who get representation isn’t based on what’s right but who can write the biggest campaign check.”
The senator’s campaign touts his fundraising, which totaled $8 million since 2021, as a “grassroots effort” powered by Montanans. Tester has also received over $1 million from industry groups, including those representing the financial industry, pharmaceutical corporations, defense contractors and boutique lobbying firms.