Quotes from Jon Tester

Agriculture drives most people crazy. It keeps me sane.

If people really want to sit down and visit and talk about things like health care, which is a very, very important issue in Montana, I think oftentimes you want to get to the same goal. And that is affordable health care costs.

I have probably never voted for a straight ticket in my life, and I am a Democratic U.S. senator.

If I made decisions around here based on the election, I wouldn't be a very good senator.

I didn't get this physique by not eating tacos.

As a policymaker, as a public servant, I come to Washington, D.C., and I make difficult decisions and I make difficult decisions every day. And sometimes those decisions upset people.

I really think that people's right to happiness shouldn't be dictated by some policymaker in Washington, D.C. I've come to know a lot of people that - sexual orientation is such where they're in love with people from the same sex, and I just don't think it's our role in the government to say, 'No you can't be married.'

I think there's plenty of folks out there, whether they agree with me or not, they appreciate the fact that you're listening to them. And I think that's how you win.

It brings me back to reality. The combine doesn't care if you're a senator or not. It breaks down whenever it wants to break down.

Montana's ranchers raise the best cattle in the world. If Taco Bell needs to beef up, they can give their customers the highest quality meat around by using Montana beef, and in the process, supporting agriculture jobs in Montana.

I play trumpet. And I took all the music courses in college, so I can also play the string instruments, keyboard, the brass and woodwinds - but only well enough to teach them. If you put a violin in front of me, you wouldn't say, 'My God, that guy can play.' It'd probably sound more like Jack Benny.

I look forward to working with President Trump. I've worked with him many times in the past, but we disagree.

I think one thing that Montanans all agree on, whether you're Republican or Democrat, is they want money spent appropriately.

I think corporations are a whole lot different than people. I mean, I don't know a corporation would be put in prison. I do know people would be put in prison.

I will tell you, in the case of education, you have to make the investment if you're going to get the return. There's no doubt about that. It's a proven fact the return is there if you make the investment. It really is about priorities.

Montanans know who I am: They know I'm a lifetime Montanan. They know I understand rural America. They know I understand public lands and not privatizing them. They know I understand the importance of public education.

If I was the leader of the House of Representatives, the first thing I would do is I would put in a very clean bill on reapportionment. And I would put a very clean bill in that says that corporations are not people.

I served on a lot of the local boards in my local community, and then I ran for the state legislature in '98 and ran for the U.S. Senate in 2006. I mean, it was just kind of one thing after another. A series of really bad decisions.

Montanans believe in the right to make a good life for their families. How they define a family should be their business and their business alone. I'm proud to support marriage equality because no one should be able to tell a Montanan or any American who they can love and who they can marry.

I think difference of opinion is a good thing.

I think there is some real therapy in getting your hands in the dirt and working with food.

This is going to sound really crude, but I lost my fingers in a meat grinder.

I was helping my mom grind meat at our butcher shop, and it just hypnotized me. I don't remember sticking my hand in, but it sheared off the three middle fingers and left me with a pinkie and a thumb.

I would love to tell you this country is on the cusp of coming together, but it isn't. But I can tell you that we need to work together in this country. We need to hold people accountable for their actions, and that will be done. And we need to move forward in a way that we have the strongest middle class ever.