Montana’s at-risk Sen. Jon Tester will not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential run as the Democratic nominee, despite reports he has been involved in soliciting her for the Senate seat.
Tester served as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) from 2015 to 2017 and led Harris’ campaign to elect a Democrat to the Senate when she first announced her intention to run for Senate.
After Harris announced her candidacy for the California Senate seat, the Los Angeles Times reported in January 2015, citing advisers, that Tester had been one of the people who encouraged her to run.
Tester has previously supported Harris but said he would not endorse her this year in order to focus on his own re-election.
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Sen. Jon Tester arrives at a Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing on June 18, 2024, in the Capitol. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
“I’m not going to endorse anyone for president, and I’ll tell you why,” Tester said at a recent press conference in Hamilton, Montana. “There are two reasons. One, I’m focused on my race. Two, people want to take this race nationally. This is not a national political issue. This is a Montana issue.”
But Tester endorsed Harris as his running mate after she was named President Biden’s running mate in 2020.
“My friend Kamala Harris is a proven fighter and the perfect person to be Vice President. As Vice President, I am confident she will continue to fight for our country’s working families. I look forward to cheering on her and Joe Biden in November,” Tester wrote in an August 2020 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Vice President Kamala Harris (Kenny Halston/Getty Images)
The senator is seeking re-election in a state that former President Trump won by 16 points in 2020 and has distanced himself from the Democratic candidate in recent months.
“No matter who’s in the White House, Jon Tester will always do what’s right for Montana. That’s why he’s consistently stood up to the Biden-Harris Administration on issues like border security and protecting Montana from burdensome energy regulations, and why President Trump has signed more than 20 of his bills into law,” Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for Montanans Supporting Tester, told Fox News Digital. “Jon’s strong record of defending Montana is why Republicans across the state, from elected officials to business leaders and Trump supporters, endorsed him for Senate.”
The Montana Democrat was one of the first senators to call on Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race in July.
Tester was also one of three weak Democratic senators who did not attend the Democratic National Convention, where Harris formally accepted the presidential nomination.
Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 16, 2024. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/Getty Images)
Tester faces opposition from former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy in one of the most crucial races for the Senate in 2024. “Jon Tester’s absence from Kamala Harris’ Democratic National Convention ceremony doesn’t hide the fact that he recruited Kamala Harris to the United States Senate, launched her political career, and has voted with her radical policies 95% of the time,” Sheehy said.
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“Jon Tester, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are all staunch America Last Democrats who support open borders, amnesty and checks for illegal immigrants, higher taxes and a green new scum energy agenda that Montanans will reject in November,” Sheehy said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “Coming in November, Montanans will help put a permanent end to the disastrous Harris-Tester policy madness by returning President Trump to the White House.”
The Cook Political Report, a leading nonpartisan political forecasting site, currently rates Tester’s race as “50-50.”
