As the lead of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez shrinks in polls leading up to the Nov. 6 midterm elections, a Democratic super PAC is pouring millions into the incumbent's campaign in a suddenly tight race with Republican nominee Bob Hugin, the Washington Examiner reported.
A Rutgers poll has Menendez up by just 5 points over Hugin among likely voters — and the poll's margin of error also is 5 points. In addition, the Democrat is below 50 percent — an important yardstick for incumbents, and a surprising number given that the Garden State is historically blue.
“The question has always been whether or not enough New Jerseyans can vote for a Republican in Trump’s first midterm,” Republican strategist Mike DuHaime — who advised former GOP Gov. Chris Christie — told the Examiner. “We haven’t won a U.S. Senate race here in 46 years, so is it possible to break that streak when the political headwinds are historically so strong?”
Hugin has been hitting Menendez’s ethics to get a political foot in the door, the paper said — and as a result Democrats have been forced to direct campaign money to help out the incumbent, the paper said.
“Regardless of the result in New Jersey, the national money coming to [the state] to bolster Menendez against Hugin’s spending is a very big win as it helps Republicans retain the majority,” DuHaime added to the Examiner. “Any dollar spent here defending a seat in a safely blue state is one less dollar defending embattled Democrat incumbents in places like Missouri, North Dakota, Missouri, and Indiana.”
More from the paper:
Democrats face a tough path in the Senate despite otherwise favorable political conditions because they are defending so many more seats than the Republicans and have 10 incumbents seeking re-election in states Trump carried, including several of the above where the president won decisively and remains popular.The super PAC affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has spent more money in New Jersey than on pickup opportunities in Tennessee or Arizona and defending vulnerable red-state incumbents in North Dakota, West Virginia, and Montana. Senate Majority PAC is reportedly planning to sink another $2.8 million into the Menendez race.
Hot Air noted that Schumer's super PAC has spent $6 million on the New Jersey race for the U.S. Senate — and with nothing much to show for it.
“We’d be in a much better position with a different candidate [than Menendez], but this is where we are,” a Democratic operative who requested anonymity in order to speak frankly told the Examiner. “We’ll still pull it out; it’s just harder than it has to be."
Here are highlights of last week's Menendez-Hugin debate:
