Hear from Montana's candidates for U.S. Senate

There are four candidates running for U.S. Senate; Tim Sheehy (R), Jon Tester (D), Robert Barb (G) & Sid Daoud (L). Read on to hear their responses to the Exponent’s 2024 candidate questionnaire.

Candidates were given three weeks to respond to the questionnaire and were given word counts for each response. Not all of the candidates responded despite multiple emails and phone calls by Exponent staff, and by no means is this an exhaustive account of all of the policy positions and ideas supported by each candidate in a particular race. It is the Exponent’s hope, however, that this concise guide to candidates’ ideas in their own words can serve as a useful resource for voters to decide who they want to vote for. All photos were provided by the candidates’ respective campaigns. 

Tim Sheehy (R)

As of press time, Sheehy had not responded to the Exponent’s questionnaire. Responses submitted after press time will be published on msuexponent.com.

Jon Tester (D)

Would you be able to provide a brief biography of yourself?

Tester: I am a third-generation Montanan, still working the farm outside of Big Sandy that my grandparents homesteaded over 100 years ago. I’ve lived in Montana my entire life: as a farmer, a former public school teacher, and a former member of the Montana State Senate.

What are your top three priorities if elected, and how do you plan to address them?

Tester: I will always fight tooth and nail to protect Montanans’ freedoms. Montanans of all stripes don’t want the federal government telling them what to do, and especially not when it comes to personal health care decisions. I oppose politicians’ attempts to ban abortion, and I support Montana’s constitutional initiative on the ballot this November to protect reproductive freedom.

Our public lands are foundational to our way of life and our state’s economy. As a lifelong Montanan, I believe you don’t need to be a millionaire to hunt, fish, or hike in these treasured landscapes, because they belong to all of us. I’m going to continue to fight to protect public lands, and I will never let people like my opponent transfer them off so their rich out of state donors can buy them up.

And I’m fighting to make housing more affordable. I recently introduced the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Act, to provide a tax credit to first time homebuyers for 10% of a home’s purchase price, up to $15,000. And I am pushing for legislation to stop hedge funds and Wall Street investment companies from buying up single-family homes causing home prices in Montana to skyrocket.

Why should MSU students, faculty and staff vote for you? 

Tester: The Montana we know and love is changing. Everything from housing to groceries is more expensive as multimillionaires move here and try to turn Montana into their personal playground, a place where only the wealthy few can afford to live.

Young Montanans are our future. As things get more expensive in Montana, it’s getting harder for young people to get good-paying jobs and start their lives here. With so much changing, we’ve got to have somebody in the Senate who’s willing to fight for our Montana way of life. Someone who fights for our freedoms and goes to bat for our working families.

I’m running to keep up the fight for those folks, and to make sure our kids and grandkids can grow up in the same Montana we know and love. Montana is the greatest state in the greatest country in the world and it’s damn sure not for sale.

Sid Daoud (L)

Would you be able to provide a brief biography of yourself?

Daoud: 

• Born and raised in Great Falls
• 4th Generation Montanan on Mothers side
• Son of an Armenian Immigrant on Fathers side
• Spent 12.5 years as an NCO in the U.S. Army
• High School Sweetheart – 34 Years with three children – Great Human Beings
• City Councilman in Kalispell Montana serving my second term 

What are your top three priorities if elected, and how do you plan to address them?

Daoud: 

• We urgently need to address Inflation and the National Debt. Americans are in dire straits under the current inflation and the stress on our economy due to the enormous national debt. Without immediate steps to reduce both, we are dooming our younger and future generations. I will fight to make congress pass a budget, one that reduces spending and starts to pay off the debt.
• Our nation can no longer afford all the unconstitutional wars, police actions and worldwide troop deployments. I will fight to return us to the constitutional inclusion of the people, through their representatives, when determining when our troops are put in harm’s way. I will fight to remove the war pigs from Washington.
• Congressmen of both big parties cooperate behind the scenes to grow government power at the cost of the people. We of the rational middle need to take back our country, disband the uni-party and return to the Constitution. I will be a moderator, bringing both sides to the table to find nonpartisan solutions for America. Government intrusion into our privacy must stop – It’s time to remove the Patriot Act and other government surveillance programs. Less 1984, More 1776! 

Why should MSU students, faculty and staff vote for you? 

Daoud: I am running to bring some sanity back to Congress, our debt and inflation are out of control, our foreign policy is erratic and dangerous with little thought to the cost both monetary and human. Vote for me to insist that congress passes a budget that reduces inflation and starts to pay down our enormous national debt. Vote for me to stop our endless wars and to prevent the draft from being implemented to support them. Vote for me to send a Senator to Washington that understands that stopping irresponsible spending will start to build back human flourishing and restore a path to the hopes and dreams of Montana’s youth.

Robert Barb (G) 

As of press time, Barb had not responded to the Exponent’s questionnaire. Responses submitted after press time will be published on msuexponent.com.