‘Rock on with Jon’: Tester, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament discuss importance of 2024 election, living in Montana 

Missoula resident Hank Green leads a Q&A session with congressman and musician, both natives of Big Sandy, Montana

By Jen Clancey DIGITAL PRODUCER

Last week, Sen. Jon Tester invited Montanans to “Rock on with Jon” in Missoula for a campaign event and Pearl Jam concert. On Wednesday, Aug. 21, Tester supporters filed into the Wilma Theatre for a Montanans for Tester Q&A event featuring the senator, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament and author and entrepreneur Hank Green. 

The three Montanans discussed affordability in the state, art as activism, and the importance of November 2024 elections, in which Tester is running for a U.S. Senate seat.

Ament and Tester grew up in the same town of Big Sandy, Montana and have been good family friends since Ament was a child. Outside of playing with a historically outspoken crew of musicians in Pearl Jam, Ament has been involved in the Montana Skatepark Association through Jeff Ament’s Army, an organization that supports philanthropic efforts to make a positive impact on Montana communities. 

For Ament, using music for change is what drew him to art in the first place. 

“As a kid, I was always attracted to the music that had some weight behind it … John Lennon was anti-war and cared so much about all the stuff that he was witnessing … that’s why that music spoke to [me], because it came from a deeper place,” Ament said in the Q&A. 

He encouraged visitors to experience the “Our Village” Festival the following day, which last occurred when Pearl Jam performed in Missoula six years ago. The “Our Village” Festival was a free community event in the tailgate area near Washington Grizzly Stadium featuring more than 30 nonprofits with food vendors, merchandise sellers, live music and local businesses. This year, “Our Village” partnered with four nonprofit organizations—Forward Montana, Montana Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana and Western Native Voice—in a “Pledge to Vote,” encouraging attendees to register to vote and receive reminders as election day comes closer. 

During the Q&A conversation, Tester addressed Montana’s troubles with housing and education. He said housing starts with a balance of supply and demand, and “for some reason there’s not enough supply right now.” 

He said he supports housing tax credits so that private developers would be encouraged to build more affordable housing and make the housing accessible to the workforce. 

“I think the downside of this is that once we get enough houses on the market, it’s going to force the market down, and it’ll reduce the cost of housing,” Tester said, noting that he understands why new homebuyers may not be happy with that. 

“We’ve got to not only focus on housing, we also have to focus on ways to make higher education more affordable too,” he said. 

He reflected about how attainable it was to afford higher education when he attended school in the 80s, compared to today. “Now it’s insanely expensive, and part of that reason is because education is seen by policymakers like me as not a public good, but a personal good, so the person needs to pay most of the costs, when in fact, it is both.”

The clock is ticking for candidates in this election season. There are 71 days until Nov. 5 polls open. 

Tester made it clear that he believes his opponent, Tim Sheehy, does not promote policies that reflect Montanans values. 

“For a guy to say that we’re going to turn our public lands over to the state of Montana, is somebody that doesn’t know Montana,” Tester said. “I mean, Jesus Christ, it’s fundamental to who we are. It’s what makes us the greatest state in the greatest country that’s ever existed.”

He expressed that the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump is the most important. “There’s democracy at stake. There’s rural America at stake, there’s how we treat one another at stake … I think it’s an important election for Montana.”

He credited a quote to gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse, saying, “if you want the Montana we’ve grown up in to still be here for 10 years from now, we damn well better pay attention this election cycle, because I think it is a watershed public cycle,” Tester said. 

As the conversation came to a close, a glowing birthday cake arrived for the senator. It just so happened that “Rock on with Jon” coincided with Tester’s 68th birthday on Aug. 21. The crowd sang happy birthday and mingled in the back of the historic theater in the heart of Missoula. Just over a mile away, crews prepared for Pearl Jam’s first Missoula concert in six years, which took place the following night.