BOZEMAN, Mont.—One would believe from media reports that Vice President Kamala Harris's rise sparks nothing but "joy" among Democrats. In one of the nation's most competitive Senate races, the new presidential ticket is nothing but a headache.
Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), who many believed cracked the code of how to win elections as a Democrat in a deep-red state, is on his back feet. Since President Joe Biden ducked out of his reelection race, the self-fashioned "straight talker" is largely absent from the campaign trail and hasn’t offered any thoughts on his party’s presidential nominee.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s rise has forced an electoral recalibration for Republicans and vulnerable incumbents such as Tester, who has tried to convince Montana voters that he routinely stood up to Biden. The timing for Tester could hardly be worse, as an Emerson College poll released Thursday found Montana Republican businessman Tim Sheehy pulling ahead of Tester. Private focus groups, according to Republicans in the state who spoke with the Washington Free Beacon on the condition of anonymity, show Harris is more unpopular in the state than Biden.
If joy was anywhere to be found in Montana on Friday, it was at a rally in Bozeman. National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.) brought former president Donald Trump to town for a show of unity. Trump, who won the Treasure State by 16 points in 2020, was introduced by a series of Montana Republicans who could not be less delighted about Harris. Their message was consistent: Tester has betrayed Montana voters and would rubber-stamp a President Harris agenda.
"When we heard that Kamala was going to be the replacement, we said, 'That's good for Tim Sheehy,'" Daines told the Free Beacon. "As Kamala Harris will continue to be defined by who she really is, versus this makeover that’s being attempted at the moment, the American people will see that she is the most liberal of all 100 senators."
Tester’s silence on Harris is conspicuous, given his past praise of her. In March 2023, Tester said that "of course" he supports keeping the vice president on the Biden ticket.
Today it is unclear what Tester makes of his party, which once dominated Montana’s statewide offices but is now in the wilderness with the lowest number of state legislature seats in more than 50 years. Although Tester was the second Senate Democrat to call for Biden to drop out of the presidential race, he has not said how he plans to vote this November.
"Like many Montana farmers, this is the busiest time of year for Sen. Tester as he spends a few weeks in August harvesting (as he does every year)," a spokeswoman for Tester told the Free Beacon. "In spite of the demands of the farm schedule Sen. Tester has continued to enjoy meeting with Montanans from across the state, from powwows to meet and greets."
The spokeswoman did not answer a question about whether Tester supports Harris.
Republicans are also fond of pointing out Tester’s direct role in Harris’s political rise. When he chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2015, Tester recruited Harris and personally complimented her "powerful campaign" in his book.
Tester’s race will likely decide control of the Senate in 2025, and Democrats are expected to spend upwards of nine figures to beat Sheehy. But even under the best conditions, Tester will need to peel off a good chunk of Trump’s supporters.
Trump’s appearance in Montana on Friday was meant, in part, to counter that strategy. In his roughly 90-minute remarks at a packed stadium with more than 8,000 supporters, Trump told Republicans not to be fooled and that Tester "is a radical left lunatic like Kamala."
"He’s terrible," Trump said before later mocking Tester’s weight and referring to it as a "disability."
Republicans are also working to win over Libertarian Party candidate Sid Daoud, which would serve another blow to Montana Democrats’ strategy. Tester has cracked 50 percent of the vote just once in his three successful Senate campaigns but has coasted to victory, GOP operatives believe, in large part because of Republican defections to the Libertarian candidate who normally siphons off roughly 7 percent of the vote.
But a charm offensive is underway this cycle. Trump gave a hero’s welcome to Daoud, who sat in the VIP section of the stadium during the former president’s speech.
Trump paused his remarks to ask Daoud to stand and receive applause. The former president said he expects "news" from Daoud in the future but did not elaborate on what he meant.
With a three-to-one fundraising advantage over Sheehy, Tester’s best hope for retaining his seat is his massive campaign war chest. Hamstrung with a record that includes voting with Biden more than 90 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight, Tester is largely eschewing an issue-focused campaign and is instead making the race about personality.
His statewide ads depict Sheehy as an outsider with a "shady" business background, although it is unclear how those messages land with Republican voters. Sheehy’s campaign has countered by hammering the Biden administration’s policies on immigration and spending.
"I’d like to get Tester out of there more than anybody else," said Gene Burg, 69, of Billings. "Ninety percent of what they’re saying about Sheehy isn’t true. When somebody’s running, tell me what you’re going to do, don’t just defame the person."