Jon Tester’s del­i­cate dance with the top of the Demo­c­ra­t­ic tick­et

He’s among the few Sen­ate Democ­rats yet to endorse Vice Pres­i­dent Kamala Har­ris. He’s also fight­ing for reelec­tion in a state dom­i­nat­ed by for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump.
Sen. Jon Tester (D‑MT) is keep­ing his party’s pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee at arm’s length despite help­ing launch Harris’s Sen­ate career and endors­ing her in 2020 when she was tapped as Pres­i­dent Joe Biden’s run­ning mate.
Fac­ing one of the most com­pet­i­tive Sen­ate races of the cycle, Tester has under­gone a del­i­cate evo­lu­tion in recent weeks with the top of the Demo­c­ra­t­ic tick­et.
In what was believed to be his first pub­lic acknowl­edg­ment of Har­ris replac­ing Biden, Tester con­ced­ed to the Wash­ing­ton Exam­in­er on Thurs­day that she was going to be the nom­i­nee.
“It appears that’s the sit­u­a­tion,” he said.
Har­ris made it all but offi­cial on Fri­day after clench­ing enough votes from Demo­c­ra­t­ic del­e­gates dur­ing a vir­tu­al roll call to win the party’s nom­i­na­tion.
Tester was among the hand­ful of Sen­ate Democ­rats who last month c …