User Profile for Senator Jon Tester (jtester)

Bio: Senator Jon Tester

Jon Tester was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 7, 2006, after a long history of public service in the Big Sky State. He served as chair of the Big Sandy School Board and on his local soil conservation service committee before running for the Montana Senate in 1997. Tester served two four-year terms in the Montana legislature, quickly gaining the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and rising to leadership roles soon after being elected. In 2005, he was chosen to serve as the president of the Montana Senate. He credits his leadership success to the values he learned growing up on the farm—hard work, straight talk, honesty and integrity.

Tester was born in Havre, Montana, on August 21, 1956. He graduated from the College of Great Falls in 1978 with a bachelor of science in music. In addition to farming and running a custom butcher shop behind the barn, Tester also worked as a music teacher for Big Sandy Public Schools. Tester and his wife, Sharla, farm the same land his grandparents homesteaded nearly 100 years ago.

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