Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) face steeply uphill battles in states controlled by the opposite party.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told Montanans during a recent debate with his Republican opponent that “this is a very important election coming up because Montana values are on the line.”
Tester is facing high-tech entrepreneur and former Navy SEAL combat veteran Tim Sheehy in November.
The two-term Democratic lawmaker from Montana then extolled his home state as a place for traditional American values “where your word is your bond and a handshake means something because the truth matters.”
Tester said Montanans should be able to raise families, develop a work ethic, send their kids to college, and have them able and eager to return to their home state.
Another Senate candidate running in a state that is deeply controlled by the opposite party is former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. The Republican is challenging Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, county executive in Prince George’s County in suburban Washington, D.C., who is making her first run for statewide elected office. The winner of their general election contest will succeed the retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
Tester in Montana and Hogan in Maryland are running in two of the most watched Senate races that could reshape Congress in 2025.
That’s because, with the Senate presently controlled by a coalition of 47 Democrats and four independents, Democrats could lose their majority in the upper chamber of Congress if the GOP manages to flip two more seats.
Tester is seeking his fourth six-year term in the Senate, having first been elected in 2006. His 17 years in office make him the 25th most senior member in the upper chamber.
He is Montana’s lone Democrat elected to a statewide position, as Republicans hold the governorship, the state’s other Senate seat, both U.S. House seats, and state legislative majorities.
In short, Montana is not the same state that, in the recent past, returned Democrat Sen. Max Baucus to Congress six times and former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield 12 times, from 1953 to 1977.
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