Tester will endorse a 2020 candidate ‘in the next week’

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) said Sunday that he will be endorsing a 2020 presidential candidate in “the next week.”

“So the bottom line is that whoever comes out of this 24 or 25 people who are running for president needs to be able to connect with rural America, and you do that by applying common sense,” Tester said on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” referring to the large Democratic field.

Host Margaret Brennan asked Tester if he would endorse his home-state governor, Steve Bullock, for president in the Democratic primary.

“I’m going to be endorsing,” he said. “I’ll tell you this, Margaret: It’s going to happen in the next week.” 

.@SenatorTester would not say whether he’ll endorse Montana Democratic @GovernorBullock for president but did say he’ll make an endorsement “in the next week.” pic.twitter.com/6iqzbTdsKj

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 26, 2019

{mosads}Tester, considered a moderate lawmaker, would be a key endorsement for the many Democratic hopefuls trying to pitch themselves as someone who can connect to Midwestern voters.

Bullock, meanwhile, was one of only three Democrats to win gubernatorial races in states that voted for Trump in 2016.

He won 75,000 more votes that year than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump by 20 points in Montana.