Tester scorched for trying to discredit GOP opponent's veteran-founded firefighting firm: 'Political warfare'

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Montana Sen. Jon Tester's campaign reportedly amplified attempts to disparage Republican opponent Tim Sheehy's business ahead of the election, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sheehy, the Navy SEAL Republican Senate candidate seeking to oust the vulnerable Tester from the Senate this cycle, was the CEO of veteran-founded Bridger Aerospace, a Montana-based company that builds aerial firefighting aircraft. Sheehy stepped back from his role in the company during his Senate campaign. 

The Wall Street Journal released a scathing report Friday calling out Tester's re-election campaign for suggesting that Sheehy's business, which consists of local Montana employees and stockholders, is "failing."

Marc Cohodes, a short seller, and several Tester donors reportedly sent a letter to the Small Business Administration calling for an investigation into Sheehy's business over "false statements" on a federal form, the WSJ reported. Cohodes was featured in an NBC report in August suggesting Bridger could face financial collapse.

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Tim Sheehy, founder and CEO of Bridger Aerospace and a Republican Senate candidate for Montana, in the Bridger hangar in Bozeman, Mont., Jan. 18, 2024. (Louise Johns)

What was reportedly left out of several reports about Sheehy's business was that the "false statement" was the result of an employee accidentally selecting an "SDB" (socially disadvantaged business) box instead of the intended "SDVOSB" (service-disabled veteran-owned business) box on a federal form.

The Gallatin County Commission in Montana responded to the claims, suggesting they were "politically-motivated inquiries."

"We believe these concerns stem from a misunderstanding of conduit private activity bonds, which are a common tool of capitalization in the national bond market. To clarify, Gallatin County has no liability exposure related to Bridger Aerospace’s business operations," the county said in a statement.

Cohodes, however, told the Montana Free Press in August that Sheehy's business is "going to go broke."

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Tester's campaign has since released a campaign ad claiming that the company, which residents in his state own stock in, is "failing," the WSJ reported.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., arrives for a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing at the U.S. Capitol April 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum)

Tim Sheehy stepped down as Bridger Aerospace CEO. (Tim Sheehy for Senate Campaign)

Sheehy's campaign put out a statement following the report, saying "there is low and then there is Jon Tester."

"We know Jon Tester is losing, and now The Wall Street Journal is pulling back the curtain on Tester’s brazen political warfare against a Montana business. Jon Tester is so desperate to continue his life as a career politician he is endangering the livelihoods of Montanans by trying to bankrupt the company his opponent started even though Tim Sheehy is no longer CEO," the campaign said in a statement.

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Bridger chairman Jeffrey Kelter told the WSJ Bridger "is a Montana company with 200 employees and a mission to protect lives and property, whose growth trajectory has been consistently great."