Republicans notched a much-needed victory on Tuesday, holding on to former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s House seat in Georgia. But according to former Sen. Jon Tester, the special election win is not a cause for celebration.
The Montana Democrat told MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle that the House’s majority party should be “worried” ahead of the midterm elections. Republican Clay Fuller defeated Democrat Shawn Harris by just 12 percentage points — a margin of victory that pales in comparison with those of his predecessor, Greene, and President Donald Trump. In 2024, Trump carried Georgia’s 14th Congressional District by nearly 37 points, while Greene won by about 29.
That tighter margin, Tester told Ruhle on Tuesday’s “The 11th Hour,” offers “good signs for the midterms for Democrats.” The former senator, who is now an MS NOW political analyst, added that he would be “very worried” if he were “on the Republican side of the aisle.”
Tester said Republicans losing ground in the reliably red Georgia district is “a direct response to failed policies from the administration and a rubber-stamping by both houses of Congress.”
He listed out several of the administration’s actions, including the president’s tariffs and his war with Iran, which he said work “against the middle class” and “against folks who are trying to make a living and doing it in an honest way.”
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“And what can be done about it? Well, the president can start changing the policies,” Tester added, before noting it was unlikely.
The former senator urged Republicans to show Americans they won’t keep rubber-stamping the president’s unpopular agenda.
“Congress really does need to step up and be the Article I group that the Constitution says it is, and hold the executive branch in check, and they simply haven’t done it for a year and a half now,” he said. “And I think the American people are getting sick and tired of it.”
While Tester said it’s clear many voters are “having buyer’s remorse,” he told Democrats that in order to win in November, it’s their duty “to give them a reason to vote for them.”
You can watch Tester’s full analysis in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”