Recent polls in Michigan's Secretary of State race have shown Democrat Jocelyn Benson trailing to her Republican opponent Ruth Johnson by upwards of 9 points. I've written a fair bit recently (here and here) about why it's so important that Benson, a highly qualified election law expert, defeat Johnson, a partisan politician who is just looking at this job as another step in her political career.
Well things seem to have taken a turn for the better in the race, as MIRS News reported yesterday that an internal poll commissioned by the Benson campaign and conducted by Lake Research Partners showed the race as dead even, with both candidates polling at 33 percent, with 31 percent undecided.
As the MIRS article cited:
"The Michigan Secretary of State race is in a dead heat and will be closely contested from now until election day as both candidates strive to get introduced to voters," read the briefing memo obtained by MIRS. "In this tough election year for Democrats in Michigan, as indicated by public polling done in the state, the Benson campaign is bucking the trend and has a path to victory.
Perhaps most significantly, the polling showed that neither candidate is particularly well known at this point by voters, but once voters get to know Benson, they prefer her by a two-to-one margin. That's why it is critical that Michigan voters tell their friends and family about Benson, send a link to her website to your contacts so they can see her qualifications for themselves, donate a few bucks to help get her name out, volunteer to help out on the campaign, etc... This may be the one statewide race that the Democrats have a good chance in, so we need to make this one count.