Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester will run for reelection in 2024, he announced Wednesday.
“Montanans need a fighter that will hold our government accountable and demand Washington stand up for veterans and lower costs for families. I will always fight to defend our Montana values,” he tweeted.
It’s official. I’m running for reelection.
Montanans need a fighter that will hold our government accountable and demand Washington stand up for veterans and lower costs for families. I will always fight to defend our Montana values. Let’s get to work.
— Jon Tester (@jontester) February 22, 2023
Currently in his third term, Tester had briefly mulled retirement before announcing a fourth run. He is the longest-serving member of Montana’s congressional delegation, and has been the delegation’s only Democrat since Steve Daines replaced John Walsh in 2015. (RELATED: Sen. Jon Tester On How To Handle Trump: ‘Punch Him In The Face’)
Former President Donald Trump won Montana by 16.4 points in 2020, and Daines defeated challenger Steve Bullock by 10 the same year, making Tester one of the most endangered Democratic incumbents. Tester acknowledged that his retirement would make a Republican flip more likely, telling CNN, “absolutely there’s a risk” due in part to “the state turning red.”
Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale, who Tester defeated in 2018 by 3.5 points, is seriously considering another run for the upper chamber. GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke could also mount a bid.
Tester “has fallen into the swamp trap and he must be replaced in ’24. I think that the people of Montana are going to take the next twelve months or so and decide which Republican that they want to represent them and replace Jon Tester,” Rosendale previously told the Daily Caller.