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- By Neely Bardwell
Native Vote 2024. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has a record of helping Indian Country. His opponent, a Trump-backed GOP candidate, Tim Sheehy does not. Tester is serving in his third term as a senator representing Montana, whereas Sheehy is a newcomer to politics.
Montana’s leading nonpartisan advocacy organizations for people with disabilities, on Monday, September 9, released the results of its comprehensive candidate survey.
Over 70 candidates from Montana responded. Both John Tester, current U.S. Senator for Montana, and Tim Sheehy, who is running against Tester, were sent the questionnaire. Many Republican candidates did not return a filled out questionnaire, including Sheehy.
Perhaps, not having a record explains why Sheehy chose not to respond to Disability Rights Montana’s candidate survey.
All candidates were asked the same questions, one question asked candidates how they will address health disparities in Indian Country and to attest to how they would interact with the Tribal Nations, Indian Health Services, Urban Indian Health Organizations, and other health care professionals serving the Native American community.
“As long as I’m in the Senate, Tribal Nations will have a partner and a seat at the table. It is critical that folks in Indian Country have access to affordable health care regardless of where they live. In 2022, I secured historic funding for IHS: an increase of $297 million over the previous year’s funding. In 2021, I helped secure more than $6 billion in funding for IHS to address the impacts of the pandemic,” responded Tester.
Tester, a former public school teacher, answered the survey’s question that asked candidates if they support changing Montana law to require public schools to provide special education services to students with disabilities through age 21 if the student has not yet graduated from high school with a regular high school diploma with this answer:
“As a product of Montana public schools, a parent and a grandparent, and a former public school teacher, I believe wholeheartedly that every Montana child deserves a high quality, public education. That means making sure that students with disabilities have access to the resources they need to succeed and thrive in our public schools. As Montana’s senior U.S. Senator, I’ve fought to make sure that the federal government does its part to support schools in serving students with disabilities. Through my work on the Senate Appropriations Committee, I recently secured over $14 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) grants program.”
Disability Rights Montana reached out to all candidates running for office using email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers found on the candidates’ campaign websites, campaign Facebook pages, or the Montana Voters Guide website.
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