EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump revealed that he is targeting two red state Democrat senators in 2024, a source tells Fox News Digital.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Trump to share with lawmakers the importance of taking back the Senate in 2024 during a meeting Thursday on Capitol Hill, according to a person in the room. Graham mentioned that there are several vulnerable Democrats in the Senate with records very similar to President Biden’s.
Trump said Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jon Tester, D-Mont., are top of the list of Democrats he is seeking to oust in 2024 — two vulnerable Democrats who are facing tough re-election bids in red states won by Trump in 2020.
“They opposed everything I did while I was president, and now they are talking like Republicans,” Trump said, according to the source.
From left: Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; former President Donald Trump; and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. (Kevin Dietsch/Steven Hirsch-Pool)
Brown and Tester have both appeared to be distancing themselves from President Biden as polls continue to show the president falling behind in several key swing states.
Tester released a memo in May that touted his “standing up to President Biden and his Administration” on several issues, including the border and COVID mandates. However, Tester’s GOP opponent Tim Sheehy previously told Fox News Digital that the Democratic senator has a habit of changing his tune to appear more moderate in election years.
When asked about Trump focusing on Tester’s seat in 2024, a spokesperson for Tester said the former president “signed more than 20 of Jon Tester’s bills into law.”
“Jon Tester does what’s right for Montana. That’s why when President Trump was in office, he signed more than 20 of Jon Tester’s bills into law to help veterans, crack down on government waste and abuse, and support our first responders,” Monica Robinson, spokesperson for Montanans for Tester, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
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Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., speaks to reporters as he walks through the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5. (Anna Moneymaker)
“You know this is what he does. Five years out of every six he’s a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, firm progressive. Votes lockstep with [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, Biden and every other progressive in the country,” Sheehy told Fox in November. “And then, for his election year, he tries to shift back to the center and act like he’s a moderate.”
Brown has also been hit by his GOP opponent for his record of voting with President Biden nearly 100% of the time.
When asked about Trump’s comment, the senator’s campaign told Fox News Digital that Brown “worked with President Trump” during his administration.
“Sherrod will work with anyone when it’s right for Ohio and worked with President Trump to renegotiate NAFTA and pass legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and make sure law enforcement officers have the resources they need to keep themselves safe and keep fentanyl out of Ohio communities,” a campaign spokesperson for Brown told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is seen during Senate voting in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 23. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Sherrod Brown parades around Ohio telling voters that he is a moderate, while he votes with Joe Biden 99% of the time and consistently sells out Ohio workers,” Reagan McCarthy, communications director for the Bernie Moreno campaign, told Fox News Digital.
“Brown has supported every single reckless spending package that has resulted in rampant inflation, voted for Biden’s attacks on American energy in favor of green energy schemes, and enabled Biden’s open-border invasion. We look forward to exposing his left-wing record and sending him packing in November.”
Brown told Politico earlier this year that he is going to “run my own race” and “my own brand,” while at the same time saying he is “not going to run away from Biden.”
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The Cook Political Report ranks both the Ohio and Montana Senate races, states where Trump won comfortably in 2020, as toss ups, and many experts believe Republican chances to retake control of the Senate hinge on those races.