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Chuck Schumer is fighting to hold on to control of the Senate.
But he’s watching his narrow path to keep the majority continue to shrink.
Now, Chuck Schumer is making this risky bet to hold the Senate that left Democrats frantic.
Senate Democrats hoping to fool voters in Montana
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is clinging to a razor-thin 51-49 majority heading into the 2024 Election.
Democrats are almost certain to lose control of the open seat in West Virginia after U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) decided to retire.
Schumer is facing an uphill battle to flip control of a Republican-held Senate seat, with Florida and Texas the two most vulnerable GOP seats up this cycle.
He would need to run the table on winning races with vulnerable Democrat incumbents just to have a chance at a 50-50 tie after the election.
Montana is the Senate race that could determine which party controls the majority after November.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is running for re-election in what’s going to be the toughest race of his career.
Former President Donald Trump is expected to cruise to victory in the state after winning it by more than 16 points in 2016 and 2020.
Tester has to get Trump voters to split their ticket if he has any chance of winning.
That’s why he’s trying to play up his opposition to President Joe Biden and highlight his ties to Montana.
Jon Tester tries to portray himself as a fake moderate and attack GOP opponent for being a transplant
Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy – a former Navy SEAL – is challenging Tester as a political outsider.
Tester is trying to attack Sheehy for moving to the state in 2014.
“[The race] is as tight as a tick on a hound dog,” Democrat Strategist Brad Bannon said. “Given his political situation, which is pretty hairy, his best move is to emphasize his local roots.”
But in a state that’s seen its population boom from transplants, that won’t land, according to Utah Valley University political scientist Kai Munis.
“They’ve kind of overplayed it,” Munis explained. “But then the other important bit [is] there are so many Montanans now that aren’t from Montana. And these messages don’t resonate with them.”
Tester is a down-the-line vote for Biden’s extreme agenda in Washington, D.C., but back in Montana, he claims he’s standing up to the President.
He’s run ads claiming he’s worked with Republicans to secure the border that included a shot of the border wall in the background.
But he publicly opposed Trump’s border wall and repeatedly voted against it.
Tester also voted against the Laken Riley Act earlier this year, which was named after the Georgia nursing student who was killed by an illegal alien released from custody in New York City.
Now that his political future is hanging by a thread, he flipped flop to claim he is backing it.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee put out 65 pages across two memos that highlight examples of Tester taking “credit for opposing Biden policies he supported.”
“In reality, Jon Tester’s record shows a distinct love for Biden and equal disdain for President Trump,” one memo states.
Jon Tester is going to try and pull a fast one on Montana voters to get another term in the Senate.
