Student-athletes in Montana are being offered thousands of dollars to endorse Sen. Jon Tester’s reelection bid in a race that could determine control of the Senate.

Montana Together contacted the athletes at the University of Montana with offers of $400 to $2,400 to back Mr. Tester as part of a name, image and likeness deal, according to reports.

Mr. Tester is locked in a tight race with Republican Tim Sheehy, and the GOP believes the path to control the Senate runs through the Treasure State. 

The Washington Times reached out to the University of Montana Athletic Department for comment. 

News of the pitch came from Lily Meskers, a University of Montana track and field athlete who said she and others were offered money to support the vulnerable three-term incumbent. 

Ms. Meskers, who is also a journalism student, first wrote about the offer this week for the conservative radio show “Montana Talks.” 

She then was interviewed by the show’s host, Aaron Flint, to whom she said a lot of women on the track team shared a “similar reaction” to the offer because of Mr. Tester’s vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. 

The bill was meant to prevent biological men from competing in women’s sports. 

“I think me and a lot of the girls on the team honestly shared a really similar reaction to this,” Ms. Meskers said. “Why would we endorse something that fundamentally goes against us?”

She added, “As women athletes, you know, we work really hard to get to the level that we’re at to be Division I athletes and to have biological men take away these positions from us, it’s really frustrating. And so when we got this email from Tester asking us to endorse him as athletes, it was kind of like … well, where is your endorsement for us? Where is you standing up for us as female athletes?”

The Washington Times reached out to the Tester campaign for comment. 

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.