Jon Tester’s delicate dance with the top of the Democratic ticket

He’s among the few Senate Democrats yet to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. He’s also fighting for reelection in a state dominated by former President Donald Trump.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is keeping his party’s presidential nominee at arm’s length despite helping launch Harris’s Senate career and endorsing her in 2020 when she was tapped as President Joe Biden’s running mate.

Facing one of the most competitive Senate races of the cycle, Tester has undergone a delicate evolution in recent weeks with the top of the Democratic ticket.

In what was believed to be his first public acknowledgment of Harris replacing Biden, Tester conceded to the Washington Examiner on Thursday that she was going to be the nominee.

“It appears that’s the situation,” he said.

Harris made it all but official on Friday after clenching enough votes from Democratic delegates during a virtual roll call to win the party’s nomination.

Tester was among the handful of Senate Democrats who last month called on Biden to drop out of the race over deepening concerns about his ability to defeat Trump and signs of advanced aging. He advocated an open nomination process.

Even after a groundswell of Democrats rallied around Harris after Biden’s exit and she became the presumptive nominee by locking up enough pledges from Democratic delegates, Tester told the Washington Examiner her nomination wasn’t a “done deal.”

“We’ll let the process work out, then we’ll figure it out,” he said July 23. “The process needs to work its way through.”

Fast-forward to last week, Tester began pivoting to talk about his own race when prompted by reporters on his lack of Harris endorsement.

“We’re working on my race right now. Focused totally on that. Believe it or not, I am, and we’re going to win,” Tester said Wednesday. “We’ll deal with the presidential race when we have time to do that. I’m also dealing with the defense bill that’s pretty damn important.”

Tester has insisted Harris and her more liberal stances will make zero impact on his race in a state Trump carried by more than 16 percentage points in 2020.

“Because we run our own race,” he explained this week. “I develop my own enthusiasm.”

Democrats can neither lose Tester’s seat nor any of the other half-dozen competitive Senate races in order to keep the chamber majority. Former Navy SEAL and Republican nominee Tim Sheehy is challenging Tester, a third-term senator who doubles as a multi-generational dirt farmer.

Republicans are eyeing Montana as one of their greatest pickup opportunities. The chairman of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), also hails from Big Sky Country.

As one of Tester’s potential vulnerabilities, the GOP is elevating his past close ties to Harris and her liberal voting record as a senator. As the former chairman of his party’s Senate campaign arm, Tester recruited Harris to run for Senate in 2016.

“It’s surprising that Jon Tester is trying to distance himself from Kamala Harris after he recruited her to run for Senate, strongly endorsed her for Vice President, and voted with her 100% of the time on her tie-breaking Senate votes,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said. “It seems like Tester is trying to fool voters in an election year.”

Tester’s strategy on Harris stands in stark contrast to other vulnerable Senate Democrats who have not only endorsed the new nominee but embraced her, including Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

But there’s a “big difference” between them and Tester, noted Democratic strategist Brad Bannon: “He’s not in a [presidential] battleground state.”

“There’s no question at all that Trump’s going to win in Montana,” Bannon said. “What you’re talking about here is the difference between deep red states and purple states.”

Harris’s virtual roll call nomination will conclude Monday, but Democrats won’t get to celebrate formally until later this month in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19-22. Tester is not expected at the convention when Harris accepts the nomination, instead hosting a “Rock on with Jon” event in Missoula with the band Pearl Jam.

Bannon predicted Tester will ultimately “endorse Harris but not embrace her.”