Republicans believe President Trump’s public attacks against Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is giving them a new opening against a Democratic incumbent, in a year when every Senate seat is important.
Tester came out hard against Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, White House physician Ronny Jackson. The nominee was scuttled, but Trump returned fire in a few public attacks, and some Republicans say Trump got the better end of the deal.
[Trump warns Senate Democrat will ‘have a big price to pay’ for disclosing Ronny Jackson allegations]
“Sen. Tester made a grave error here for his political future,” said Josh Holmes, a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “He has benefited more than almost anyone else from his constituents not knowing what he’s up to in Washington … All of that changed when he got the attention of the president of the United States with his attacks on Ronny Jackson.”
Up until then, Tester’s re-election had not received the same level of press coverage as other high-profile contests, due in part to the GOP’s inability to recruit a top-tier candidate to take on Tester. It got more difficult for the GOP after Ryan Zinke left the House to become secretary of the Interior.
The top GOP contender is Matt Rosendale, the state’s auditor general, who has struggled with fundraising. He raised just $319,000 in the first three months of 2018, and has $458,000 in the bank.
But Trump’s attacks on Tester have boosted Rosendale, the likely GOP nominee, who saw a “major uptick” in organic donations, according to a source close to Rosendale.
Tester has also been forced to publicly defend the allegations he made against Jackson, which include that he wrecked a government car after getting drunk at a Secret Service party, and nearly woke up President Obama while banging on the hotel door of a female colleague.
Tester’s state went to Trump by nearly 21 percentage points in 2016, and Trump is expected to keep hammering away at him.
“I never understood why Jon Tester picked this fight,” said Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee. “He self-created this race, basically. We know Trump kind of is omnipresent in all of our media and all of daily lives and on everything. But with Tester, that’s now gotten personal.”
“You had better believe this is not going away over the next six months,” he added. “Trump will talk about this and tweet it over and over again, and it will absolutely have a negative impact on Tester.”
Democrats continue to stand by Tester, a former Democratic Senatorial Committee chair, and believe he will emerge victorious in November. However, Tester isn’t taking any chances and is fundraising off the tweets.
He told supporters in one note over the weekend that he is facing a “relentless barrage of unfair, entirely negative attacks.” He even enlisted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to send out a fundraising email in support of him.
“Me thinks they’re trying to make a mountain out of a molehill,” said Jim Manley, a former top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and former Sen. Ted Kennedy. “Not only to other Senate Republicans who have no problem with what’s happening, but furthermore, there’s a real issue here and that this guy was spectacularly unqualified to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
“I’m confident he always expected a tough race,” Manley said. “If Republicans didn’t have this issue to play with, they’d find something else. I’m confident he’s going to be fine in the end.”
Nonetheless, the GOP is ready and willing to let Trump lead the way for them in Montana. According to a March survey, 50 percent of Montanans support the president compare to 46 who disapprove. Top Republicans believe the president has the ability to do to the incumbent Democrat what he did to many on his way to the presidency.
“I would be incredibly nervous if I were Jon Tester … We’ve now got a two-and-a-half year demonstrated effort of the president absolutely decimating the image of any target that comes into his crosshairs,” Holmes said. “Whether it’s 16 Republicans standing on a stage or it’s Hillary Clinton or it’s garden-variety Democrats or the congressional Republicans. He has completely decimated anybody who’s in a prolonged fight with him.”
Over the weekend, Trump called on Tester to resign and said his decision to release the list of allegations against Jackson were “dishonest and sick!” The White House also said Tuesday that Trump will likely visit Big Sky Country, and Marc Short, director of legislative affairs, said the president will be there “very soon.”
