Outside Groups Target Wisconsin US Senate Race

With a week to go before Election Day, outside money is pouring into Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Ron Johnson and Democrat Russ Feingold.

The bulk of the spending is coming from groups supporting Johnson as they look to defy expectations and help Republicans hold Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat next week.

Americans for Prosperity, the Reform Wisconsin Fund, the Senate Leadership Fund and the Chamber of Commerce are among the conservative groups running ads to benefit Johnson, mostly by attacking Feingold. One Democratic group – the Senate Majority PAC – has started running ads on Feingold’s behalf.

Speaking to reporters from a coffee shop on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Tuesday, Feingold said he’s OK if people assume the ad blitz means Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race is close.

“I want people to work like we’re down by a couple points,” Feingold said. “But what’s really happening here is the exploitation of this corrupt system that Sen. Johnson loves.”

Johnson was set to campaign with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Eau Claire on Tuesday evening.

Polls have consistently shown Feingold leading Johnson, though his margin has narrowed. A new Marquette University Law School poll is due out Wednesday.

Feingold was joined by Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who led a group of students to an early voting site on campus where she cast her ballot early. In a brief question and answer session with reporters, Baldwin said Wisconsin has always been a swing state and people should assume it would be this year, too.

Baldwin also said it was a mistake for FBI Director James Comey to announce this close to the election that his office was investigating newly discovered emails that are “pertinent” to Secretary Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Comey sent a letter Friday to members of Congress announcing the step, cautioning that he could not yet assess whether the information was significant.

“I believe that Director Comey made an error in judgment in a vague letter saying basically he didn’t even know what he was looking at, but releasing it so close to the election,” Baldwin said. “He is a man of integrity, but I believe he misjudged this one.”

Feingold told reporters today as he did last week that it was important for Clinton to be transparent.

Johnson has said Comey’s letter was an important step toward accountability on Clinton’s emails.