Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), one of several battleground-state Democrats up for reelection in the Senate, said on Monday that President Joe Biden needs to show he can handle a second term amid questions about his mental fitness.
Despite the criticism and representing a red state that Biden lost by 16 percentage points in 2020, the third-term senator ultimately stuck by him in the face of calls from other Democrats for the president’s withdrawal from the race.
“President Biden has got to prove to the American people, including me, that he’s up to the job for another four years,” Tester said in a statement. “Meanwhile, I’ll continue to do what I’ve always done: Stand up to President Biden when he’s wrong and protect our Montana way of life.”
The campaign arm of Senate Republicans described Tester’s position as “not surprising.”
“Jon Tester voted for Joe Biden’s agenda 95% of the time, so it’s not surprising he’s standing by his guy despite Biden’s obvious mental decline,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said in a statement.
Biden on Monday was defiant, both in writing and on the airwaves, in his refusal to exit the 2024 contest.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now,” he wrote in a letter to congressional Democrats. “It’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”
The president also phoned into MSNBC’s Morning Joe, a popular morning talking show for Democratic lawmakers and liberal politicos, to extend a challenge to party “elites.”
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“Run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president,” Biden said. “Challenge me at the convention.”
The Democratic National Convention, where Biden is expected to be made the party’s official nominee, begins on Aug. 19.