Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) on Thursday refused to endorse Kamala Harris’s bid for president one day after saying it is more important to elect her than his own reelection as Montana’s senior senator.
Tester hosted a press conference in Missoula and revealed he does not want to endorse Harris because he does not want to “nationalize” his reelection.
“I’m not going to endorse for the presidential, and I’ll tell you why, because — two reasons — because I’m focused on my race, and number two, people want to nationalize this race, and this isn’t about national politics. This is about Montana,” Tester said.
On Wednesday, the Montana Democrat professed it was more important to elect Harris his own reelection, coming after he backed calls for President Joe Biden to step out of the 2024 presidential race.
“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,” the Montana Democrat said during a rally in Missoula.
“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 continued.
Tester’s backflip on Harris support follows as multiple polls have Montana Senate Republican candidate Tim Sheehy leading Tester.
“This embarrassing backtrack is the latest in a series of flip flops from a desperate, two-faced politician who lies to voters as easily as he breathes. Jon Tester votes with Kamala Harris 100% of the time, but doesn’t have the courage to defend that record, so he is lying to voters about who he supports for President instead,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said in a written statement.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
