In a striking declaration during a rally in Missoula on Wednesday, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) stated that electing Vice President Kamala Harris as president is of greater importance than his own re-election to Montana’s senior Senate seat.
“Mine isn’t the important one; it’s the one at the top. There’s a lot at stake here. There’s democracy at stake, there’s rural America at stake, there’s how we treat one another at stake. There’s a lot at stake,” Tester remarked, emphasizing the broader implications of the upcoming presidential election.
The senator, who has been a vocal advocate for Harris and played a key role in her 2015 Senate campaign, underscored his belief in the necessity of strong leadership to address the nation’s challenges. “There’s a lot of things going on in this world. You’ve got to have leadership that knows how to bring people together so that people can work together to find solutions. That doesn’t mean you compromise your values, that doesn’t mean you do stupid stuff. That means you bring people together, to get people on the same page to solve problems,” Tester said.
Fox News reported that Tester’s relationship with Harris dates back to his tenure as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), where he was instrumental in recruiting Harris to the Senate in 2015. “It gets me in on leadership meetings and allows me to influence where the party is going, what the party’s going to do… to focus on things that are important,” Tester reflected on his role in the DSCC.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) responded sharply to Tester’s comments. Spokeswoman Maggie Abboud issued a statement, criticizing the senator’s priorities: “Last night, Jon Tester accidentally told the truth: he thinks it is more important for Kamala Harris to win than it is for him to win reelection. Tester no longer cares about Montana; he only cares about making sure radical Democrats have power in Washington D.C.”