MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Conservative spending to boost Sen. Ron Johnson continued to pour into Wisconsin on Tuesday, while Democratic former Sen. Russ Feingold looked for a lift from Hillary Clinton’s running mate, who was returning to campaign in the state for the first time in months.
Feingold was campaigning with Sen. Tim Kaine in Appleton and held an early voting rally in Madison with Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Johnson planned to join Donald Trump at an evening rally in Eau Claire, the first time he’s campaigned with the GOP presidential nominee.
The two sides have spent roughly $6 million on television ads since Monday, as Republicans sense a tightening in a race that could be key to the battle for control of the Senate.
The latest ads from Americans for Prosperity and the Reform Wisconsin Fund, along with two new spots from Johnson’s campaign, come just a week before Election Day. Democratic and Republican super PACs each launched $2 million ad campaigns Monday and Clinton aired her first spots in the state to help Feingold.
The former three-term senator said during a stop at a University of Wisconsin-Madison coffee shop that corporate powers are trying to save Johnson at the 11th hour because he does their bidding in the Senate. He said Johnson wants people to think the spending means the race is close.
“I want people to work like we’re down by a couple points,” Feingold said. “I hope people will look at who’s running these ads and they’ll see the difference, that I’m the candidate who stands for Wisconsin people.”
Johnson, a businessman who helped build a plastics manufacturing company and ran his first race for office in 2010 against Feingold, is the real outsider, said Johnson’s spokesman Brian Reisinger. In his speech at the Trump rally, Johnson will make the case for defeating both Clinton and Feingold, “two career politicians who are in it for themselves,” Reisinger said.
Feingold’s campaign manager, Tom Russell, said strong early voter turnout in Democratic counties, consistent polling showing Feingold ahead and strong grassroots fundraising support point to a victory over Johnson.
Americans for Prosperity said it is spending nearly $1 million on the new ad attacking Feingold for supporting President Barack Obama’s health care law. Republican Senate candidates across the country have seen an opening against Democrats who support the Affordable Health Care Act in light of news that premiums are going up an average of 25 percent in the 39 states served by the federally run online market. Rates in Wisconsin are expected to go up an average of 16 percent.
Feingold voted for the law when he was in the Senate and the new ad includes a clip of him talking about how proud he was to support it.
The other ad, coming from a different conservative super PAC, the Reform Wisconsin Fund, attacks Feingold for supporting the Iranian nuclear deal, calling him a “radical.” Johnson opposes the deal that curtailed Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the end of various oil, trade and financial sanctions.
The Reform Wisconsin Fund and a partner PAC called the Reform America Fund have received $5.4 million from billionaire Diana Hendricks, co-founder of Beloit’s ABC Supply. Chris Martin, a spokesman for the group, said the latest ad buy was $628,000.
Johnson’s campaign also launched two new ads on Tuesday. One is tailored to the northern Wisconsin congressional district of Republican Rep. Sean Duffy and the other features a mother whose son died of a heroin overdose criticizing Feingold.
The Duffy ad shows the former lumberjack-turned-congressman chopping down a tree with a narrator saying both he and Johnson are “hardworking outsiders who tell it like it is.” Johnson, wearing one of Duffy’s signature plaid red shirts, stands next to Duffy in what appears to be a bar.
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