Donald Trump is locked in a dogfight with Kamala Harris to return to the White House.
But he needs the help of Congress if gets there.
And a vulnerable Democrat is in one fight that could change everything for Donald Trump.
Senate control comes down to Montana
Former President Donald Trump’s agenda in a potential second term rests on Republicans regaining control of the Senate.
Confirming cabinet nominees, judges, and passing legislation is dead on arrival in a Senate run by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Democrats have a 51-49 advantage heading into the November election.
West Virginia’s Senate is all but certain to flip Republican after U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) decided to retire.
That puts Republicans at 50 Senate seats.
Democrats have a daunting Senate map this election cycle with several vulnerable nominees up in red states.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is the most endangered Senate Democrat running for re-election this year.
The three-term Senator is trying to hold on in Montana, which is expected to overwhelmingly vote for Trump again this November.
Beating Tester would give Republicans 51 Senate seats and a majority.
Jon Tester is facing tough political headwinds
Tester told Semafor that he wasn’t the underdog in the race despite running in a heavily Republican state.
“What it looks like from here and what reality is are two different things,” Tester said. “I’m going to go up and I’m going to go down, but I feel really good about where we’re at. And I feel really good about how this race is going to turn out.”
But his Senate colleagues aren’t as confident.
A recent poll from AARP found Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy ahead of Tester 49% to 41%, outside the margin of error.
Tester has trailed almost all of the polls out of Montana since this summer.
A Senate Democrat called the polling out of Montana “alarming.”
But the state’s Senate race is do or die for Democrats.
The best offensive opportunities for them this election are Texas and Florida, two states that are considered “reaches.”
Winning Montana’s Senate race is the Democrats’ only path to holding the majority.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Tester’s race “breaks my heart . . . I’ve still got my fingers crossed he’s going to pull it out.”
He added that Democrats weren’t going to give up on the race.
Democrats need Tester to win and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in the red state of Ohio.
“In my view, Democrats continuing to be in the majority requires that we win every one of the incumbents,” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said.
Tester acts like a moderate in Montana but is a rubber stamp for the Biden-Harris agenda in Washington, D.C.
Sheehy’s campaign has been working to tie Tester to his voting record.
“While Tester performs an Academy Award-winning performance of an ‘aw, shucks’ dirt farmer from Big Sandy to D.C. media who haven’t left the East Coast in decades, it’s clear to Montanans that Jon Tester has changed, and his liberal voting record proves it,” a Sheehy spokesman said.
Democrats are facing an uphill battle to keep their Senate majority after the November election.
