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Sen. Jon Tester

Senator for Montana

pronounced jon // TEST-er


Tester is the senior senator from Montana and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 4, 2007. Tester is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 66 years old.

Photo of Sen. Jon Tester [D-MT]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Tester.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Tester is shown as a purple triangle in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Tester has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 30, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Jon Tester sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Tester was the primary sponsor of 43 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 43 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Tester sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (48%) Native Americans (11%) Health (8%) Education (8%) Taxation (8%) Agriculture and Food (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Tester recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Tester voted Yea

Tester voted Nay

Bill Passed 69/27 on Jan 21, 2021.

This was a vote to waive the seven-year waiting period for former military to serve in the civilian position of Defense Secretary. Nominee Lloyd Austin …

Tester voted Yea

Tester voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 65/34 on Jan 18, 2018.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017. The bill would extend so-called "section 702" government surveillance under …

Tester voted Yea

Bill Passed 72/26 on Sep 28, 2016.

The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations …

Tester voted Yea

Joint Resolution Passed 78/22 on Sep 18, 2014.

Tester voted Nay

Bill Passed 86/12 on Feb 15, 2011.

Tester voted Yea

Motion Agreed to 81/19 on Dec 15, 2010.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known …

Tester voted Nay

Bill Passed 74/25 on Oct 1, 2008.

This bill became the vehicle for passage of economic stimulus relief during the 2008 financial crisis as well as other unrelated provisions. It was the …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2007 to Mar 2023, Tester missed 53 of 5,342 roll call votes, which is 1.0%. This is better than the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: