Jon Tester casts doubt on unfavorable poll in Montana Senate race: ‘Give me a break’

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., expressed skepticism about a recent poll that showed him losing his Senate seat in Montana, which prompted two prominent political handicappers to shift their race ratings to give Republicans an advantage. 

“If you look at the AARP poll, there’s absolute inconsistency with reality,” he told reporters on Thursday. 

In particular, Tester took issue with how similar his polling stature was to Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, led Tester in the poll, 49% to 41%. Former President Donald Trump similarly led Harris 56% to 41%. 

“Give me a break,” the Montana Democrat said of him garnering the same percentage as Harris. 

“We’re not saying it isn’t a good poll,” he added. 

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According to Tester, “It’s a margin-of-error race right now.” 

The AARP poll was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (R) & David Binder Research (D). Between August 25-29, 1,064 likely voters were interviewed, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Tester also told reporters that he didn’t have any thoughts on the Cook Political Report moving his race to “leans Republican.”

Asked whether he was concerned about being down in the polls, he responded, “I’m not.”

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In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., for the first time claimed the Republicans would take back the Senate majority in the upcoming election.

“We will win the Senate majority,” he said. 

“Fifty-one is the number that we want to get to. Clearly, there’s an opportunity to get beyond that, but 51 is the number we’ve got to get to,” he explained.

On Thursday, Tester also answered why he has yet to endorse Harris, explaining, “Because I want to be about Montana.”

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Despite his refusal to explicitly issue an endorsement of Harris, Tester was reportedly personally responsible for recruiting her to run for the Senate in 2015, when he served as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) chairman. 

Even more recently, Tester was supportive of President Biden’s choice of Harris as his running mate in 2020, writing on X, “My friend @KamalaHarris is a proven fighter and an excellent pick for Vice President. As VP, I’m confident she will continue to fight for working families across this country. Looking forward to supporting her and @JoeBiden in November.” 

Tester has been re-elected in Republican Montana twice but has not appeared on a ballot with Trump before. Trump won the state twice, in both 2016 and 2020. 

Sheehy notably boasts the endorsement of Trump going into the competitive election. 

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