COLUMBUS, Ohio — Montana Senator Jon Tester is going to a party this week. But it will be Pearl Jam, not Vice President Kamala Harris.
Tester joins vulnerable Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jacky Rosen of Nevada in skipping the Democratic convention in Chicago to focus instead on the must-win election, their campaign teams confirmed. At least two House Democrats, facing similar political headwinds at home, are also skipping a trip to the Windy City.
Brown and Tester face difficult re-election battles in states that former President Donald Trump won handily in both 2016 and 2020. Voters in Rosen’s Nevada chose President Joe Biden in 2020, but the state remains a highly competitive swing state.
Senate Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority and have little room for error this fall. Polls show Brown, who is running for his fourth term, leading Republican businessman Bernie Moreno and Rosen ahead of Army veteran Sam Brown. But Tester and his Republican challenger, Tim Sheehy, are neck and neck.
For candidates in close races, “I don’t necessarily know if there’s any real benefit to going,” said Kyle Kondik, editor in chief of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Several Republicans skipped the convention in Milwaukee last month. “Especially if you’re trying to keep the party at arm’s length, why would you go to the convention?”
Brown and Tester called on Biden to drop out of the race, days before the incumbent president ended his re-election campaign. Brown and Rosen have endorsed Harris’ campaign. Tester has not yet done so.
According to the Montana Free Press, Tester is skipping the DNC and will instead attend a fundraiser on Wednesday with Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, who is from Montana. The band will play a concert the next day at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. According to his campaign, Tester plans to spend August farming and meeting with Montanans in person.
Brown has a busy schedule of campaign appearances in the Buckeye State.
“We have been planning to be in Ohio for months, and Sherrod looks forward to hearing from Ohioans from Youngstown, Toledo, Cleveland, Chillicothe and Sandusky this week about his fight for work dignity,” Brown spokeswoman Eliza Green told USA TODAY.
Rosen, who had been absent from previous Democratic conventions, recently campaigned in Las Vegas for Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
“Senator Rosen supports the Harris-Walz ticket and is excited to join them on the campaign trail in Las Vegas,” a Rosen spokesperson said. “She is also focused on her own re-election and will be speaking to Nevada voters the week of the convention.”
Colorado Rep. Yadira Caraveo and Maine Rep. Jared Golden will campaign in their districts rather than attend the DNC, their campaign teams confirmed.
“Who I vote for is nobody’s business but my own,” Golden wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I want the people of Maine’s 2nd District to understand this: I don’t care if you vote for Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, or neither of them.”
In the hours after Biden dropped out of the race, Democrats faced the threat of a historic public convention, but Harris quickly secured support and won the nomination earlier this month through a virtual roll call vote.
“It could have been the most influential convention in 60 years if Harris hadn’t immediately grabbed the nomination,” Kondik said. “But as it is, it’s just a big show for the party.”
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which covers the Columbus Dispatch, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio..
This article originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: These at-risk Democratic lawmakers are avoiding the DNC in Chicago
