Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced Wednesday that he will run for re-election, a decision that comes as Democrats look to hold onto their slim Senate majority in 2024.
“Montanans need a fighter that will hold our government accountable and demand Washington stand up for veterans and lower costs for families,” Tester tweeted Wednesday. “I will always fight to defend our Montana values. Let’s get to work.”
Tester, 66, was first elected in 2006, surviving multiple election cycles in the Republican-leaning state of Montana, which then-President Donald Trump won by about 16 points in the 2020 presidential election.
Tester’s announcement comes after he told NBC News earlier this month that he was still undecided on whether to run for re-election in 2024. The Montana senator said at the time that he’s “got a few things to think about” while declining to provide a timeline for his decision other than sometime this year.
“Ultimately, in the end, I’ve got a farm that’s been in the family for over 100 years,” he said.
“We got to make sure that’s taken care of. We got to make sure that we’ve thought through all the procedures of what’s going to happen over the next eight years. And so once we get through with that, then we can come down and make a decision,” he added.
Tester expressed concerns about the future of the Democratic Party in the aftermath of the midterm elections in November.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in December, Tester said he believes his party’s “very bad” messaging cost them support in rural America in the midterm elections. The Montana senator suggested that Democrats need to focus their messaging “more on the things we’re doing for rural America.”
Tester said he doesn’t believe Democrats talk about their accomplishments in a way that appeals to rural voters “nearly enough,” pointing to the bipartisan infrastructure law that Congress passed in 2021.
“It’s going to help rural America big time, when it comes to broadband and electrical distribution and roads and bridges. We didn’t talk about it,” Tester said on “Meet the Press.” “We didn’t talk about it from a rural perspective.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
