The U.S. Senate race in Montana has come into focus amid President Donald Trump's criticism of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., CNN reported.
Trump took aim at Tester, calling on him to resign after the senator offered claims about the conduct of Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician who had been Trump's choice for Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, the news network reported.
Republicans see an opportunity to take on Tester, as his Senate seat is one of five Democrat-held seats in states that Trump won by double digits. Several Republicans are in the running for the Republican nomination in June, and two have raised several hundred thousand dollars for their campaigns, CNN noted.
Retired Republican state politician Roger Hagan said that Tester's actions over the Jackson nomination "pretty much reinvigorated me to work to oppose him."
Some veterans at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Great Falls said that their issue is that Tester went public with allegations about Jackson before an investigation had been finished, the CNN report said.
The president lashed out at Tester on Saturday at a campaign-style rally in Michigan, saying, "I know things about Tester that I could say, too. And if I said them, he'd never be elected again."
The senator has supporters in Montana, the CNN report said.
"Pardon the language, but I think it's bull butter," said independent voter Bill Boland about Trump's claim.
"I think Montanans know who the real Jon Tester is, and the amount of work he has done for the veterans in the state of Montana is amazing," Bolland added.
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