by Judah Torgerud
U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis has closed the gap between him and his opponent, Sen. Tina Smith, to only one point, putting Democrats on edge.
A survey released Wednesday by KSTP shows the margin between former congressman Lewis and Sen. Smith has closed to just one point in their race for the Senate. A MinnPost poll released Tuesday had Lewis trailing by four points.
The announcement of the poll numbers caused members of the Minnesota DFL to ask their supporters for additional donations.
“YOUR help spreading our message of supporting the police, ending the lockdowns and creating jobs, protecting 2A/the Constitution got us here,” Lewis wrote on Twitter.
🚨🚨NEW POLL & @TinaSmithMN’s lead has been cut to ONE. SINGLE. POINT.
MN is THIS close to going red.
YOUR help spreading our message of supporting the police, ending the lockdowns and creating jobs, protecting 2A/the Constitution got us here.
Now we need to go finish the job! https://t.co/mmVkjyfNEp
— Jason Lewis (@LewisForMN) October 21, 2020
Of the people surveyed by KSTP and Survey USA, 43% said they plan to vote for Smith and 42% said they are backing Lewis. Another 12% are undecided and 3% plan to vote for other candidates.
“One thing fueling the tightening race is that Smith’s lead among women and suburban voters has largely evaporated,” KSTP said in its analysis of the poll. Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier told the outlet that the poll indicates “there is not one Minnesota.”
“Here are two Minnesotas. There’s the metro area which is blue for Biden and Smith and by big margins, but the entire rest of the state is favoring both Lewis and Trump,” he said.
Apparently, Lewis’ jump in polling took the DFL by surprise, even though Lewis has been closing the gap between himself and Sen. Smith for over a month. In September, the margin between the two candidates was 11 points, and earlier in October, there was a 7% difference between them, according to KSTP.
“We weren’t expecting this, and we need to immediately move some resources into this race,” the DFL said.
An hour after the KSTP survey was released, the DFL sent out an email asking supporters for more donations. Shortly after, Sen. Smith joined in.
BREAKING: A new poll has our opponent within ONE POINT of us. With 13 days to go, we've got to work as hard as we can to connect with as many voters as possible. But we need the resources to do it. Can you chip in $5 right now? https://t.co/zwAH7cHmlH
— Tina Smith (@TinaSmithMN) October 22, 2020
“We just got some really bad news less than two weeks from Election Day: The U.S. Senate race in Minnesota is a dead heat,” wrote the DFL. “I know we’ve asked a lot this week, but without a victory in this race, Democrats have almost no chance of flipping the U.S. Senate. The good news is 12% are undecided in this race, and we still have time to reach out to them.”
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Judah Torgerud is a freelance journalist working with Alpha News to keep the people informed and bring the truth to light. Contact him at [email protected].
