Montana Senate race brings out both Trump and ‘The Dude’
BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana Senate candidate Matt Rosendale may not be a household name, but he’s surrounded on the campaign trail by President Donald Trump and other big-name Republicans like Vice-President Mike Pence, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul.
His opponent, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester? He’s got “The Dude.”
Arguably the biggest name to appear on Tester’s behalf this election season has been actor and part-time Montana resident Jeff Bridges, who played a character known as The Dude in the cult classic film “The Big Lebowski.”
That’s no slight by key Democrats, who steered clear of the race despite control of the closely divided Senate potentially at stake. Rather, it is Tester’s calculated effort to distance himself from mainstream party figures and stoke his image as a centrist still rooted in the small agricultural community of Big Sandy where he farms.