Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, vulnerable Democrat up for reelection, calls on Biden to drop out of the race

By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN

(CNN) — Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a vulnerable Democrat up for reelection in a deep-red state, has called for President Joe Biden to end his bid for a second term.

”I have worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I’ve never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong,” Tester said in a statement Thursday. “And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term.”

Tester is the second Democratic senator to ask Biden to withdraw as the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Earlier this month, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch called on Biden to “withdraw from the race” in a Washington Post op-ed.

Tester’s announcement comes hours after CNN reported that many senior-ranking White House and Biden campaign officials now privately believe that the president must abandon his reelection campaign soon.

“The next 72 hours are big,” one Democratic governor in close touch with party officials relayed to aides on Thursday. “This can’t go on much longer.”

Democrats continue to wrestle with not only Biden’s reelection bid but also its ability to hurt the party in down-ballot races. CNN reported Wednesday that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told Biden that he could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House. In the Senate, Democrats and the independents who caucus with them have a difficult road to maintain their majority, with 23 seats to defend compared with just 11 for Republicans.

CNN’s Manu Raju, David Wright, MJ Lee, Jamie Gangel and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.

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