Democrat Joe Radinovich’s campaign manager quit Wednesday after polls showed his Republican opponent leading by 15 points.
As The Minnesota Sun reported Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee canceled $1.2 million in ads in Radinovich’s district, and diverted those funds to other Democratic candidates across Minnesota.
On top of that, a New York Times poll showed Republican Pete Stauber leading Radinovich 49 percent to 34 percent, compared to an early September poll that had Stauber behind by one point. As a result, the Cook Political Report moved the race from a “toss up” to “lean Republican.”
Alpha News was the first to report Wednesday night that Campaign Manager Meredith Raimondi has left the campaign amid a tumultuous week for Radinovich. Brady Slater of the Duluth News Tribune later reported that Jordan Hagert, a Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN-08) alum, will fill in for Raimondi for the final weeks of the campaign.
https://twitter.com/bradydslater/status/1052900636054970369
The Radinovich campaign did not immediately respond to multiple calls and emails from The Minnesota Sun seeking comment on Raimondi’s departure.
Stauber is capitalizing on Radinovich’s political woes, hitting the campaign trail with Lara Trump on Thursday.
“Momentum is on our side,” Stauber recently tweeted, noting that FiveThirtyEight now gives Stauber a 4 in 5 chance of winning the election.
Momentum is on our side: Toss-Up ➡️Lean R@CookPolitical @FiveThirtyEight @LarrySabato
— Pete Stauber (@PeteStauber) October 18, 2018
Larry Sabato’s Center for Politics followed suit and changed Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District from “toss up” to “leans Republican.”
Trump spoke at one of the Minnesota Republican Party’s field offices Thursday afternoon just weeks after her father-in-law campaign for Stauber and other Republican candidates in Rochester. Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan called Lara Trump’s visit an opportunity to “energize our volunteers and hear more about how the grassroots ground-game built in Minnesota will take Pete over the 51 percent threshold this November.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
