Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is being mocked for owning a Prius as far-left electric vehicle policies become prominent issues in key Senate races.
The Washington Post pointed out Tester’s ownership of a Toyota Prius in an article published Monday that highlighted that vulnerable Democrats are working to scramble away from President Joe Biden’s radical electric vehicle policies.
“According to Tester’s memoir, published in 2020, he bought a used Prius to drive while in Washington, D.C.,” the Post notes.
After the article’s publication Monday morning, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Communications Director Mike Berg posted “[f]ootage of Jon Tester in the Prius” to X.
Tester can be seen entering the passenger side of a red Prius while departing the U.S. Capitol building. It is unclear when the video was taken.
Jason Theilman, a Montanan who is the executive director of the NRSC, referenced Tester’s embrace of the Prius in a May op-ed in the Missoulian as a sign that he has fundamentally changed from the man he once knew decades ago:
Twenty-five years ago, when Jon Tester was first elected to the state legislature, I used to have beers with him at the Windbag Saloon in Helena. A lot has changed since then, including Jon Tester himself. He was a different kind of politician in those days, and in the days since, he has traded in his pick-up for a Prius and his Montana common sense for lobbyist cash.
Monday’s video of Tester, who faces Republican Tim Sheehy in the general election, comes as Biden’s electric vehicles policies complicate navigating contentious swing state races for vulnerable Democrat Senate candidates, like Tester and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Tim Sheehy (Tim Sheehy for Senate)
In March, Biden issued an environmental federal regulation that would require most new cars sold in the U.S. market by 2032 to be electric vehicles or hybrids. In other words, the regulation aims to phase out gas-powered passenger vehicles and light trucks.
Despite Biden’s regulation, Tester claimed to the Post that he is “an internal combustion guy.”
“The truth is if you’re going to make it competitive we’ve got to get batteries to a point where they’re more affordable and longer lasting and work at colder weather conditions,” he told the outlet.
His seat represents a prime pick-up opportunity for Republicans in the 2024 cycle as they seek to regain a Senate majority. Democrats have lost every statewide election in Montana since Tester’s win in 2018, and former President Donald Trump won the state by 16.4 percent in 2020.