With their toughest Senate races looming in November, Democrats have remained relatively silent about former President Trump’s conviction on Thursday in an effort to thwart any chance Republicans could retake the seat.
Sens. Jon Tester (D-Montana), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) did not respond to the news of Trump’s conviction Thursday night or Friday morning, but their colleagues from both parties spoke out.
Trump was convicted by a New York jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels following his alleged affair.
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Bob Casey and Sherrod Brown did not respond to Donald Trump’s conviction in New York. (Getty Images)
Montana, Ohio and Nevada are among the states with the most competitive Senate races in the country, according to nonpartisan political handicapper The Limited. Cook Political ReportIncumbent Democrats face a real risk of losing their seats, as well as their Senate majority.
“Senator Tester respects the judicial process and believes everyone should be treated fairly in a court of law, and voters will have the opportunity to make their case at the polls in November,” a spokesperson for Tester said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday afternoon.
“All Americans, even former presidents, are subject to the rule of law and must be held accountable for their criminal acts,” Rosen said in a statement. “The jury has reached a verdict, and I respect our legal system and the outcome of this fair and impartial process.”
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Our testers are taking part in one of the most competitive races in the country. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
In his own statement, Baldwin told Fox News Digital, “Donald Trump has been put before a court of law. The jury has found that there is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump is guilty. No one is above the law, including a former president.”
Mike Berg, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, criticized the senators for their weak response, saying in a statement to Fox News Digital, “All of these Democrats are clear in their support of Joe Biden, who is leading this witch hunt, and his legal battle against President Trump. Given that Democratic Senator Jon Tester has even advocated physical violence against President Trump, it is extremely surprising that they would refuse to accept the verdict.”
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Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump reacts as the verdict is read in his criminal trial on charges he falsified business records to hide payments made to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, at a state courthouse in Manhattan, New York City, USA, on May 30, 2024. In this courtroom sketch, (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
Spokespeople for Brown and Casey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to run away from Donald Trump, even in states that he won big time. I think you need to go back and punch him in the face,” Tester said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in 2019, in response to a question about Republican colleagues supporting the then-president.
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Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024, after being convicted of 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. (Felipe Ramares for Fox News Digital)
Republican lawmakers reacted immediately to the verdict on Thursday, with many criticizing the conviction, while reactions from Democrats ranged from celebration to solemn approval to insistence that the sentence must be respected.
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But notably absent from X’s responses and public statements were five of its most vulnerable incumbent lawmakers, many of whom hail from battleground states that voted for Trump in the past.
Tester hails from a state where Trump outvoted Biden by more than 16 percentage points in 2020 despite losing the presidential election, and in 2016, Trump won the Republican-leaning state by an even larger margin.
