As of this week, Jeff Johnson is no longer a name that national Republicans know. This week, the Republican Governors Association told Buzzfeed that they had no ad reservations in Minnesota, and Medium Buying confirmed that they'd canceled the final week of spending for the governor's race.
The committee had reserved $2.3 million back in April when their preferred candidate, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, looked like he was well on his way to capturing the GOP nomination. However, an unnamed GOP operative told BuzzFeed in June that it was "likely" they'd cancel it if Johnson won the primary, which he did in August. The RGA slowly began zeroing out week after week of TV time, and now there's nothing left to cut. Johnson has consistently trailed Democrat Tim Walz in the polls.