It was no accident that Sen. Jon Tester of Montana wound up on the campaign trail this week with the leader of Planned Parenthood’s national political action committee.
The endangered Senate Democrat, who’s running a tricky campaign that could determine whether Democrats keep control of the upper chamber, is leaning into abortion rights in a red state that most people do not associate with reproductive freedom or Democrats who can win statewide.
But Tester’s move is a sign of how abortion rights are at the center of the Democratic Party’s plan to cling to its one-seat Senate majority in November. In Montana and Florida, Democrats are betting that abortion ballot measures drive turnout among independent and left-leaning voters. They’re also hoping that Republicans are tempted to cross party lines for candidates who staunchly oppose a national abortion ban, which Democrats are warning is on the table if they lose control of the Senate.
That means not only talking up their own…