Former president Donald Trump, GOP rivals target Kathy Barnette, a little-known candidate who is suddenly surging in Pennsylvania primary race.
Trump, who has endorsed Oz, issued a statement Thursday insisting Barnette “will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats.” Oz called her a “mystery person” and a super PAC supporting him is running an ad titled “Crazy Kathy.” McCormick pointed to her double-digit loss in a bid for Congress in 2020 as one of the reasons the GOP can’t take a risk with her on the Senate seat.
“They’re coming out with long knives at this point,” Barnette told a GOP audience on Thursday. “Right? And I had the best day of my life today.”Days before the primary, the race is tight. A recent Fox News poll showed Oz with 22 percent support; McCormick, the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, with 20 percent; and Barnette at 19 percent.
American Leadership Action, a super PAC backing Oz, has labeled her “Crazy Kathy Barnette” in a new ad, while declaring her “Pennsylvania’s wackiest Senate candidate.” Trump’s criticism of Barnette in his statement Thursday stands in sharp contrast to her full embrace of the former president. As an analyst on Fox News, she has been a consistent champion of Trumpism and organized buses to send Trump supporters to the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
While high-profile Trump supporters are largely split between McCormick and Oz, some of the party’s Black lawmakers have been vocal in their praise for Barnette’s bid to be Pennsylvania’s first Black senator.Rep. Burgess Owens , one of two Black Republicans in the House, pushed back on the Barnette criticism Friday on Twitter.
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