One year after Montana’s U.S. Senate campaign, advertising is already intensifying

Helena, Montana – The contest on the airwaves has officially begun, with one full year remaining until Montanans choose a U.S. senator in the general election of 2024.

The Democratic candidate for Senate, Jon Tester, started running television advertisements around the state on Tuesday. Leaders of the campaign attested that it was a component of a “significant six-figure buy.”

Tester’s campaign had reserved more than $770,000 worth of TV airtime, according to a post made by the company AdImpact Politics on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

near his debut commercial, Tester talks about his upbringing on a farm near Big Sandy and the recent developments that Montana has seen. He promises to defend Montanan culture in Washington, D.C., in it.

“Jon Tester understands what life is like for Montana families because he lives it every day,” campaign manager Shelbi Dantic said in a statement. “Montana might be changing, but Jon Tester hasn’t. He still works the land his grandparents homesteaded more than 100 years ago and he still gets his same $12 flattop haircut. Jon Tester knows what makes our state so special and he will never stop defending Montana.”

Online ads are also running for Tester.

By the end of 2023’s third quarter, Tester’s campaign had amassed $13 million in cash. It had already spent over $1 million on text messaging, over $550,000 on direct mail, and over $100,000 on digital marketing.

Since the end of July, Gallatin County businessman Tim Sheehy, who is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Tester, has been running regular TV and digital advertisements. Initially, he introduces himself, his time in the Navy, and his companies, Little Belt Cattle Company and Bridger Aerospace. Later, he challenged Tester’s and the Biden administration’s records.

Sheehy’s campaign had spent over $820,000 on “media placement and production” as of the end of September. An additional $85,000 had been spent on digital advertising and website hosting.

Of course, over the course of the upcoming year, Montanans will see advertisements from more than just the campaigns. Ads against Sheehy have been funded by independent expenditures, and on Tuesday the Montana Republican Party unveiled an online campaign in which it accused Tester of being “two-faced.”

The previous two Senate contests in Montana have been among the most fiercely fought in the nation. In the 2018 contest between Tester and Republican contender and future U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale, more than $63 million was spent by candidates and outside organizations.

After two years, the 2020 election saw the expenditure of almost $150 million, with incumbent Republican Sen. Steve Daines defeating Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.

Voters shouldn’t anticipate a quick end to the intense advertising throughout the state, as next year’s contest is anticipated to be no different.