Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) physically wrestled each other, causing “some serious damage” to the paint job on a wall in the Capitol complex, as part of a rowdy campaign fundraising effort.
In addition to the uphill climb of being a Democrat in deep-red Montana, the centrist Tester faces a tough reelection fight next year. Making matters more difficult is a long-shot state GOP effort to limit third-party bids in Tester’s 2024 race in hopes of hurting his reelection chances. The Montana senator, who reported an impressive $5 million Q1 cash haul after launching his reelection bid, tried an unusual idea to solicit new donations: posting a video of himself and Booker roughhousing and joking around.
WITH SENATE ON THE LINE, REPUBLICANS HOPE TESTER FACES ‘WORST NIGHTMARE’ IN 2024
The 80-second video begins with Tester throwing Booker into a wall, causing a crack in the white paint. It appears that the footage was filmed in the Capitol complex, though it is not clear where the wall incident took place.
“Oh my god. I, uh—” Tester said upon seeing the wall damage, to which a laughing Booker gleefully cut in, “See how determined he is?”
Immediately after, Booker remarked on Tester’s left hand, which only has two fingers, his pinky and thumb, joking that holding those two out was the senator’s way of giving him the crude gesture of the middle finger.
“That’s exactly what it is,” Tester responded jokingly as the two laughed.
“There’s no one like him, thank god,” Booker then said, still laughing. “No s***,” a smirking Tester replied.
The two Democrats were clearly enjoying themselves as they continued the wrestling, with Booker doing a flip of sorts off of a table onto Tester. The move caused the camerawoman, who was standing mere inches away, to gasp and quickly move back.
“I just saw her life flash before her eyes,” Tester said to screams of laughter.
“Hey, it’s going to be a tough race,” he later said after clips of the two attempting to throw each other into the same damaged wall while in hysterics. The senators both urged viewers to “chip in” to help Tester in his reelection “fight.”
Tester also acknowledged that the wild video “didn’t really go as we had planned” but asked supporters to help him out despite the chaos.
In a follow-up tweet alongside the video that included a link to donate, the Montana senator wrote, “We’ve been able to fix a lot of things by bringing Montana values to Congress, but now I need your support to keep me there (and fix this wall too).”
Booker included clips of the wrestling in a separate video posted to social media Thursday, in which he asked supporters to donate to Tester’s campaign.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) shared his confusion about what the men were doing in the raucous video while also encouraging people to donate.
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“Honestly I don’t completely understand what the hell is going on in this video but someone it shows (a) how beloved Tester is; (b) how he doesn’t take himself too seriously; (c) and why it’s so important to keep a guy like him in the Senate,” he wrote on Twitter. “Chip in today to Team Tester!”
Thursday’s video wasn’t the first time the two senators had gotten physical on camera. Last June, they posted a similarly wild video showing them repeatedly tackling each other all over the Capitol complex. After being confronted by their respective chiefs of staff about not continuing the behavior, the two agreed to instead “tackle” big agriculture consolidation, which has long been a policy priority for both men.
