Kavanaugh Catapults Marsha Blackburn Into Lead in Key Tennessee Senate Race
David M. Drucker reports at the Washington Examiner:
Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn holds her first sustained lead in the race for an open Tennessee Senate seat, catapulted ahead of Democrat Phil Bredesen by the partisan battle to confirm newly minted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Kavanaugh clash has awakened complacent Republicans and motivated conservative voters blasé about President Trump to rally around the GOP flag. The development is hobbling Bredesen, a popular former governor, undercutting his crossover appeal with rank-and-file Republicans and diminishing the Democratic Party's critical enthusiasm edge.
"Blackburn cruised past Bredesen in two public opinion polls conducted at the apex of the Kavanaugh controversy," according to the Examiner.
"The fresh data suggests the episode has nationalized the Tennessee contest and led Republicans open to voting for the Democrat to retreat to their partisan bunkers," the Examiner reports. "In one survey, Blackburn topped Bredesen by 8 percentage points; in another, she was in front by 5 points."
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