College athletes in Montana are being paid to produce supportive videos for Sen. Jon Tester, who is running for one of the most vulnerable House seats for Democrats in the 2024 election, according to emails shared with Fox News Digital.
According to University of Montana athletic director Kent Haslam, a group called Montana Together recently sought out University of Montana players and offered them compensation in exchange for promoting testers.
Initial contact on behalf of “Montana Together” came in July through a representative from Opendorce.com, a platform used as a marketplace for athletes to acquire name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts. NIL is a policy approved by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2021 that allows college athletes to monetize their content.
According to copies of emails shared with Fox News Digital, the group offered student-athletes anything between $400 and $2,400 in exchange for videos “spreading the word” about the Democratic senator.
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Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is running for reelection in 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“We have NIL opportunities available for Montana student-athletes and would appreciate your help in providing the following information to individuals you would like to encourage to apply for this campaign: Montana Together is using Opendorse to find athletes for NIL contracts,” the email obtained by Fox News Digital stated. “What are they looking for?: Athletes attending a college or university in Montana who are interested in spreading the word about Senator Jon Tester and causes you care about.”
The deals offered were $400 for two scripted videos, $800 for two non-scripted videos, and $2,400 for four non-scripted videos.
Tester’s campaign told Fox News Digital that it had no knowledge of these actions and had not been in contact with the group.
Lily Meskers, a UMT track and field athlete and journalism major who was among the first to publicly announce the offer to athletes, told Fox News Digital that she “immediately felt frustrated” when she received the email.
Senator Jon Tester arrives at a Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing on June 18, 2024. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
“When I first received my NIL contract offer, I immediately felt frustrated. I asked myself, ‘Why would they want my support when it is directly and negatively impacting my values?'” Tester’s vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act goes against everything I have stood for as a female athlete,” Meskers said. “This vote is an opportunity for biological males to take away scholarships, medals and spots from female athletes. This frustration was felt by many of the female athletes on my team.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), chaired by Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines, highlighted that Tester was one of 51 Democrats who voted against a Republican-led amendment that would have banned biological males from participating in women’s athletics.
Republican candidate Tim Sheehy is challenging Tester for Montana’s Senate seat. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds)
“Jon Tester sided with woke Washington Democrats when he voted to allow boys to participate in girls’ sports. Now his dark money buddies are trying to pay students to hide his far-left voting record,” NRSC spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said in a statement. “Jon Tester is caught in a downward spiral, resorting to all sorts of despicable tactics.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Montana Together for comment at the time of writing but was unable to reach them.
