Vulnerable Senate Democrat Jon Tester says Harris nomination isn’t ‘done deal’

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), one of several Senate Democrats in a “toss-up” reelection race, suggested Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris may not become the Democratic Party’s nominee.

“I think we’re in the middle of a process,” Tester told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t think that’s a done deal.”

Tester is one of only a handful of Democratic senators yet to endorse Harris and the only one among those considered vulnerable this election cycle.

His stance stands in stark contrast with other Senate Democrats in tough reelections, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who on Tuesday appeared with Harris at a Wisconsin campaign rally after previously skipping those held by President Joe Biden in her home state.

Harris has locked up support among the majority of Democratic National Committee delegates, all but securing her fate as the presumptive nominee for next month’s party convention.

Still, Tester questioned what lay ahead for Harris’ political future.

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

In criticizing Tester for keeping Harris at arm’s length, Senate Republicans have noted that when he led the campaign arm of Senate Democrats, he encouraged Harris in 2015 to run for the California Senate seat she held prior to becoming vice president. The campaign arm of the Senate GOP is advising candidates to cast Harris as “weird” and a “San Francisco radical.”

“Candidates should not be shy about aggressively tying their opponents to Kamala Harris’ extreme agenda,” Jason Thielman, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a campaign strategy memo.

Tester’s Republican challenger is former Navy SEAL, Tim Sheehy.

“We’ll see who runs,” Tester said when asked what other possible Democratic presidential candidates he favored.