Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) on Thursday night became the second Senate Democrat to call on President Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.
“Montana citizens trust me to do the right thing and I take that responsibility seriously. I have worked with President Biden when he was strong for Montana and have never been afraid to stand up to him when he’s wrong,” he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “While I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I do not believe President Biden should seek reelection.”
Tester is seeking to defend his seat in a state that twice voted for former President Trump, and is facing one of the most competitive races of the 2024 election.
Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) called on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. (Getty Images)
The Montana Democratic race is rated “close” by nonpartisan political handicappers. Cook Political ReportThis category also includes three competitive races in Ohio, Nevada and Michigan.
Tester is set to face off against Montana Republican Senate candidate and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy in November.
The senator recently told Fox News Digital that an internal investigation showed “he’s working hard,” but did not disclose the data.
He also rejected the idea that his race was competitive, insisting that “my race is not in a precarious position.”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) speaks to reporters while walking through the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker)
Earlier this month, Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) became the first Democrat in the Senate to call on Biden to withdraw. “In the national interest, I call on President Biden to withdraw from the race,” Welch wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
Senate Democrats recently held a special meeting with senior advisers to the Biden campaign at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
Notably, Tester did not attend the meeting, telling Fox News Digital that he would instead be meeting with aerospace defense company Northrop Grumman to discuss “Project Sentinel,” presumably a reference to the company’s work on the US Air Force’s LGM-35A Sentinel weapon system.
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“President Biden must prove to me, and to the American people, that he can get the job done for the next four years,” Tester said in a statement last month, just a week after Biden’s poor performance in a debate with Trump.
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