Chinese companies own a fraction of a percent of farmland in Montana. Yet the issue has been a major focus of one of the country’s most competitive Senate races.
Sen. Jon Tester is again facing a tough reelection race that could come down to several thousand votes. | Matthew Brown/APChinese investors own just a tiny percentage of Montana’s tens of millions of acres of farmland. But you wouldn’t know it from the campaign ads that Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and his GOP opponent have been airing.
By zeroing in on foreign land ownership, specifically, politicians are combining the “highly emotional issues” of American farmland and fear, said Rep.“When you combine the fear of the Chinese Communist Party with farmland, that really means something to people,” added Johnson, who has co-sponsored multiple pieces of House legislation that would restrict land purchases by investors from China and other countries.or 3.
Senate candidate Tim Sheehy talks about his campaign on Feb. 9 in Helena, Montana. | Matthew Brown/AP The messaging has extended to outside spending as well. In January, the More Jobs, Less Government PAC dropped three more ads on the subject in favor of Sheehy’s candidacy, claiming he would crack down on Chinese currency manipulation and farmland buys. The group has spent more than $1 million on advertising so far.
Sponsoring legislation to block foreign land purchases has given Tester a platform to talk about China, farming and national security in a way that could help enhance his centrist credentials — and differentiate himself from other Democrats, including President Joe Biden, whose approval numbers in the deep red state are abysmal, noted Jeremy Johnson, a political analyst at Carroll College in Helena, Montana.
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