Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester is asking President Joe Biden not to seek re-election.
Tester, who made the announcement in a press release Thursday evening, said it has become clear that Biden should end his campaign.
“Montanans have put their trust in me to do what is right and it is a responsibility I take seriously,” Tester said. “I have worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I’ve never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong. And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term.”
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Tester’s announcement comes on the night Donald Trump accepts the Republican nomination for president. Trump won 56.9% of the Montana vote in 2020, and 55.6% in 2016. To prevail in his race against Republican challenger Tim Sheehy, Tester is going to have to share tens of thousands of voters with the former president.
Tester is considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators seeking re-election this year, but today he became one of only two to publicly call on Biden to end his campaign. Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont did so July 10. Privately, Democratic congressional leaders have told Biden his candidacy could cost them a chance at a majority in both chambers, according to the Washington Post and several other media reports.
Top-ballot Democrats in Montana have long had to outperform their party’s presidential candidate to win. In 2012, Tester drew 34,000 more votes than incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama to prevail in a three-way race with Republican Denny Rehberg and Libertarian Dan Cox. Tester won 48.7% of the vote, outperforming Obama by 7 percentage points.
But voters who choose both Democrats and Republicans on a so-called split ticket are becoming increasingly rare, Carroll College political science professor Jeremy Johnson told Montana Free Press Last week.
“I have worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I’ve never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong. And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term.”
Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester
After President Biden proved frail and slow to respond during a June 27 presidential debate with Trump, Tester began showing doubt that he thought Biden could win the race, initially saying that he would collaborate as a senator with whichever candidate won the presidency if and when it made sense for Montana.
Then last week, Tester said, “President Biden has got to prove to the American people — including me — that he’s up to the job for another four years.”
Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Montana, in 1992, with less than 40% of the vote, a feat made possible by the popularity of third-party candidate H. Ross Perot.
Tester has a substantial fundraising advantage over Sheehy. Tester has raised $43.7 million to Sheehy’s $13.7 million. Sheehy’s total includes $2.6 million the candidate contributed to his own campaign.
Campaign cash doesn’t necessarily translate to votes. In Montana’s 2020 Senate race, Republican incumbent Steve Daines captured 61,000 more votes than Democratic challenger Steve Bullock, who had twice been elected Montana governor. Bullock not only outraised Daines by $16 million, but he also outspent the incumbent by $14.4 million. Daines won 55% of the vote to Bullock’s 45%.
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