About
FP1 is proud to have served as the media consultant for Tim Sheehy’s U.S. Senate campaign, helping this decorated Navy SEAL defeat a three-term Democratic incumbent.
Problem
A former chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Jon Tester was a savvy political opponent who had folk hero status in Montana. This self-proclaimed “dirt farmer” from Big Sandy with seven fingers had made a political career of defying the odds and appealing to soft Republicans in Big Sky Country.
Personally recruited by National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, Tim Sheehy started the race with virtually no name ID. The fact that Congressman Matt Rosendale, a conservative firebrand and Freedom Caucus member with strong grassroots support in Montana, was planning to run for the U.S. Senate complicated Sheehy’s path to victory.
Solution
When Sheehy entered the race in July of 2023, he trailed Matt Rosendale by 60 points in a potential primary matchup. FP1 produced a series of biographical ads that touted Sheehy’s service in the SEALs, his Bronze Star with Valor and Purple Heart, and that he was a successful businessman who had started multiple businesses that created over 200 Montana jobs.
By November, Tim Sheehy was leading Matt Rosendale in the polls. After Sheehy earned President Trump’s endorsement, Rosendale decided against running for the Senate.
During the general election against Jon Tester, Sheehy was significantly outspent. Tester raised and spent around $85 million to Sheehy’s $25 million. To overcome this disparity, FP1 produced advertising that was compelling and impactful. We continued to focus on Sheehy’s military service, which resonated with voters in a state with one of the highest per capita veteran populations in America. With Tester attacking Sheehy for being a “fake cowboy” and an out-of-stater, we ran an ad featuring a well-known Montana rancher to educate voters that Sheehy was running a real cattle company that was strengthening Montana agriculture and providing job opportunities to veterans. We also featured a testimonial from a mom of a little boy with a genetic degenerative disease to spotlight Tim Sheehy’s charitable contributions to strengthen pediatric care in Montana. To drive home the fact that Jon Tester had rubber-stamped the Biden-Harris agenda that created sky-high inflation, we ran testimonials from a farmer and middle-class mom saying it was time to retire Tester and send Tim Sheehy to the Senate.
In a bold and daring strategic decision, we cast a Tester look-alike actor and filmed two humorous ads that exposed the hypocrisy of a career politician who no longer represented Montana’s values. Our “Two-Faced Tester” moniker was memorable, and it forced Jon Tester to go on camera to push back on our ads, a surefire sign that they were hitting the mark.
After these two spots ran, we saw an immediate deterioration of Tester’s image in our polling and a significant increase in the number of Montanans who viewed him as liberal. Our funny actor ads had succeeded in shattering the mythology of Jon Tester and exposed him as just another radical Democrat who had rubber-stamped the disastrous policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
At the conclusion of the campaign, Tester was losing in the polls. In a desperate Hail Mary, Tester and Chuck Schumer’s super PACs ran ads accusing Sheehy of lying about being wounded in Afghanistan. We produced powerful testimonial ads from three Navy SEALs who served with Tim Sheehy to push back on these disgusting attacks on a decorated combat veteran who had earned a Purple Heart for being wounded by an IED explosion and a Bronze Star with Valor for saving the life of one of his military brothers on the battlefield.
When Sheehy entered the race in July of 2023, he trailed Matt Rosendale by 60 points in a potential primary matchup. FP1 produced a series of biographical ads that touted Sheehy’s service in the SEALs, his Bronze Star with Valor and Purple Heart, and that he was a successful businessman who had started multiple businesses that created over 200 Montana jobs.
By November, Tim Sheehy was leading Matt Rosendale in the polls. After Sheehy earned President Trump’s endorsement, Rosendale decided against running for the Senate.
During the general election against Jon Tester, Sheehy was significantly outspent. Tester raised and spent around $85 million to Sheehy’s $25 million. To overcome this disparity, FP1 produced advertising that was compelling and impactful. We continued to focus on Sheehy’s military service, which resonated with voters in a state with one of the highest per capita veteran populations in America. With Tester attacking Sheehy for being a “fake cowboy” and an out-of-stater, we ran an ad featuring a well-known Montana rancher to educate voters that Sheehy was running a real cattle company that was strengthening Montana agriculture and providing job opportunities to veterans. We also featured a testimonial from a mom of a little boy with a genetic degenerative disease to spotlight Tim Sheehy’s charitable contributions to strengthen pediatric care in Montana. To drive home the fact that Jon Tester had rubber-stamped the Biden-Harris agenda that created sky-high inflation, we ran testimonials from a farmer and middle-class mom saying it was time to retire Tester and send Tim Sheehy to the Senate.
In a bold and daring strategic decision, we cast a Tester look-alike actor and filmed two humorous ads that exposed the hypocrisy of a career politician who no longer represented Montana’s values. Our “Two-Faced Tester” moniker was memorable, and it forced Jon Tester to go on camera to push back on our ads, a surefire sign that they were hitting the mark.
After these two spots ran, we saw an immediate deterioration of Tester’s image in our polling and a significant increase in the number of Montanans who viewed him as liberal. Our funny actor ads had succeeded in shattering the mythology of Jon Tester and exposed him as just another radical Democrat who had rubber-stamped the disastrous policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
At the conclusion of the campaign, Tester was losing in the polls. In a desperate Hail Mary, Tester and Chuck Schumer’s super PACs ran ads accusing Sheehy of lying about being wounded in Afghanistan. We produced powerful testimonial ads from three Navy SEALs who served with Tim Sheehy to push back on these disgusting attacks on a decorated combat veteran who had earned a Purple Heart for being wounded by an IED explosion and a Bronze Star with Valor for saving the life of one of his military brothers on the battlefield.
Results
On Election Day, Tim Sheehy defeated Jon Tester by a margin of 53% to 45%. Given Tester’s track record in Montana, his significant financial advantage and the brutality of his attacks on Sheehy’s military record, character and business, this was a tremendous victory. From the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to fighting wildfires in the west, Tim Sheehy has been serving our country his entire adult life. He is a dedicated family man, a successful businessman and an American Warrior who will shake up the status quo in Washington and put hardworking Montanans first.
FP1 is proud to have partnered with our friends at the NRSC, Executive Director Jason Thielman, Senior Advisor Brock Lowrance, Political Director Tim Edson, and Erik Iverson, the Sheehy campaign’s pollster from Peak Insights, on this trendsetting campaign that helped a political unknown knock off one of the toughest and most entrenched Democratic incumbents in the U.S. Senate.
On Election Day, Tim Sheehy defeated Jon Tester by a margin of 53% to 45%. Given Tester’s track record in Montana, his significant financial advantage and the brutality of his attacks on Sheehy’s military record, character and business, this was a tremendous victory. From the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to fighting wildfires in the west, Tim Sheehy has been serving our country his entire adult life. He is a dedicated family man, a successful businessman and an American Warrior who will shake up the status quo in Washington and put hardworking Montanans first.
FP1 is proud to have partnered with our friends at the NRSC, Executive Director Jason Thielman, Senior Advisor Brock Lowrance, Political Director Tim Edson, and Erik Iverson, the Sheehy campaign’s pollster from Peak Insights, on this trendsetting campaign that helped a political unknown knock off one of the toughest and most entrenched Democratic incumbents in the U.S. Senate.
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