According to recent reports, an incumbent Democratic senate candidate in Montana faces substantial challenges from the GOP as the election draws nearer. Just two weeks from election day, Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) chances of winning reelection are slim as the three-term Democrat faces formidable opposition from Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.
Despite the odds not being in Tester’s favor, Democrats still refuse to give up on the incumbent, continuing to buy tens of millions in ads ahead of Election Day. Reports indicate that over $5 million was spent last week along to boost Tester. President of the Senate Majority PAC (SMP), a prominent outside interest group supporting Democratic senate candidates said, “We remain confident of Senator Tester’s ability to win the race in part because he’s so rooted in the state,” said JB Poersch. He maintained that they “thinks it’s viable” for Tester to come out on top.
Furthermore, Tester also led a massive $30 million fundraising campaign over the past several months to spend on various forms of advertising. However, Democratic operatives are not hopeful. “I’m still not betting against Tester. That’s the bottom line,” a Democratic strategist in Montana told The Hill. “He knows how to win close races and he knows how to turn out a vote. … That muscle memory is something I’m not going to bet against,” they added. “It’s definitely an uphill climb.”
Other Democratic senators have also voiced their reservations about Tester’s prospects. “They’re clearly, in my view, making a mistake,” according to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). “Never count out Jon Tester.” Furthermore, Vice President Kamala Harris can provide little to no support for Tester as former President Donald Trump leads her by 17 points in the state based on recent polling.
A Republican Senate member explained, “The problem they have there is that Harris can be of no help to Tester. Republicans would probably love to see Harris go to Montana.” Democratic strategists area also worried about voter turnout from Native American reservations, a demographic that has been predicted to play a decisive role in the state’s election.
The American Tribune reported on comments from Trump about the Montana earlier this summer when he was campaigning in the state. “I just landed in a really beautiful place, Montana, so beautiful, flying over, and you just look down, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But we have a very high rating in Montana. We have a lot of popularity. I like them. They like me,” the former president said.
The Republican presidential candidate continued, “But I’m here to do some fundraisers, and most importantly, to support Tim Sheehy who’s running for the US Senate, and we think he’s going to do really well. We’re gonna have a rally, and it’ll be a lot of fun. And then tomorrow, we’re gonna do some more different stops, different states, all good, all great people.”
Slamming Vice President Harris, he added, “And we’re leading in all of the polls now. Just about every poll has us leading. They found out that this is a pony that we’re running against, a person that had no idea what she was doing on the border, has no idea what’s happening with inflation, had no idea what they did when it came to Afghanistan, the most embarrassing day in the life, in the life of our country, there’s never been anything so embarrassing. We should have gotten out with dignity and strength, not the way they got out. It’s an embarrassment to our country.”
Watch Trump below:
Featured image credit: @SenatorTester, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Senator_Tester.jpg
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