Johnson trails Feingold amid heavy fundraising in Wis. Senate race
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's campaign raised more than $2.1 million in first three months of this year, trailing his Democratic rival Russ Feingold for the fourth straight quarter.
But the Johnson campaign sees a clear path to victory, according to a memo obtained by TheMilwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Campaign manager Betsy Ankney said Johnson's fundraising total of "over $2.1 million" puts him "within the top six biggest Senate fundraising hauls in the country." Overall, Johnson has raised $8.4 million.
Feingold's campaign said it raised $3.35 million in the first quarter, pushing its total to $10.5 million since the former U.S. senator launched his race last year.
"There is no question, Feingold will have enough money to mount a formidable campaign — but we are confident we will have the resources we need to win," Ankney wrote.
She said results from Wisconsin's April 5 presidential primary show the political environment "favors an outsider," the state "continues to trend red," and the "ground game and digital targeting" built by the Republican Party of Wisconsin will be beneficial in the fall.
The memo positions Johnson as an outsider like Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who combined for almost 1.5 million votes in the April 5 primary. Even though Johnson is Wisconsin's senior U.S. senator, the memo said Feingold is "still essentially the three-term incumbent."
Johnson unseated Feingold in 2010.
She said the power of state conservatives was seen in "sky-high" GOP turnout in the primary and the victory of Justice Rebecca Bradley in the state Supreme Court race.
Unstated in the memo is that Republicans have not won a presidential election in Wisconsin since Ronald Reagan in 1984. It is also difficult to predict turnout in a general election from primary results.
The campaign is banking on the ground game built over the years by the Republican Party, especially in the three wins for Gov. Scott Walker.
"On top of that, consider the fact that Walker's ongoing political operation and talk radio across the state were a huge part of Cruz's victory," she wrote. "They succeeded where other Republican operations have failed, and they'll be all-in to mobilize voters" for Johnson.