Let’s not usher in another Gilded Age

The 2024 Senate map had Republicans giddy over nine races where the GOP might pick up seats and take control of the Senate in 2025. In four of those races where incumbent Democrats were most vulnerable – Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Montana’s own Steve Daines recruited extremely wealthy Republican challengers, most with tenuous ties to their states.

If elected, Montana GOP candidate Tim Sheehy would be among the 10 wealthiest senators (with a net worth between $74 to $260 million), as would Ohio GOP candidate Bernie Moreno, Pennsylvania GOP candidate David McCormick, and Wisconsin GOP candidate Eric Hovde.

Why were these ultra-rich candidates recruited? With Trump siphoning funds from the Republican National Committee for himself, McConnell and Daines actively sought candidates willing to pour their own money into their campaigns. To date, Tim Sheehy has self-funded $11 million toward his own race.

Over a century ago, the U.S. adopted the 17th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish the corrupt buying of a Senate seat and restore the direct election of senators to “the plain people.” But the GOP sees politics as a rich man’s game, even here in Montana.

I fully expect these ultra-wealthy senators will not be protecting the interests of the plain people once elected. They will be looking out for their own wealth and the portfolios of their rich brethren.

Let’s not usher in another Gilded Age where the robber barons enrich and empower themselves. Reject Tim Sheehy, another wealthy GOP candidate intent on buying and lying his way to a precious Montana Senate seat. Let’s re-elect Jon Tester to the Senate.

– Beth Waterbury, St. Ignatius