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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Wisconsin’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest Marquette Law School poll found Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes leading Republican incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, 51 percent to 44 percent. In June, the same pollster found Barnes ahead by only two points.
* Speaking of the Badger State, the same survey showed an even more competitive gubernatorial race in Wisconsin, with Democratic incumbent Gov. Tony Evers leading Republican Tim Michels, 45 percent to 43 percent. Given the GOP’s stranglehold on the state legislature, this raises the possibility of Republicans controlling the state’s government entirely in the coming years.
* In Michigan’s gubernatorial race, a new AARP poll found incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with a modest lead over Republican media personality Tudor Dixon, 51 percent to 46 percent.
* Mehmet Oz ran into a little trouble this week, as a video circulated of the Republican flubbing the name of a popular grocery store chain in Pennsylvania — the Senate hopeful was filmed at a Redner’s supermarket when he referred to “Wegner’s,” apparently confusing it with Wegmans — while referencing a “crudité” platter. “I was exhausted,” Oz said yesterday. “When you’re campaigning 18 hours a day, I’ve gotten my kids’ names wrong, as well. I don’t think that’s a measure of someone’s ability to lead the commonwealth.” (Senators, for the record, don’t lead states.)
* The Washington Post ran a report yesterday that seemed hard to believe in a country with a free press: “Journalists hoping to cover a Republican rally featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio will have to agree to give organizers access to any footage they take, and could face questions about what it will be used for.”
* On the campaign trail in Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley told a group of local voters this week that he supports a Democratic proposal to cap insulin costs. The Republican senator recently voted against this policy during the fight over the Inflation Reduction Act.
* And Politico reported that Priorities USA Action, a leading super PAC aligned with Democratic politics, is launching a $2 million ad campaign “focused on voter registration this fall — specifically targeting voters under 34.”