Potential upset? New polling shows GOP uptick in Michigan

A Senate race largely ignored as a potential blue-to-red flip has seen a recent uptick in favor of its Republican challenger.

The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday morning that incumbent Michigan Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s lead over Republican candidate John James appears to have lagged, according to a recent poll of likely voters.

The poll, which was commissioned by the Free Press and its media partners and conducted by EPIC-MRA, shows Stabenow with a lead of just 7 points — holding 49 over James’ 42. The newspaper notes that the Democrat has been expected to win by a double-digit margin. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Mitchell Research polling released two weeks earlier showed Stabenow with a 9-point lead, and a Detroit News poll released at the beginning of October had James 18 points behind his Democratic opponent.

This suggests that James’ campaign has an outside shot at a highly unexpected Republican upset with Election Day fewer than two weeks away.

John James is an Army combat veteran who has been endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund as a “rock-solid conservative who is passionate about our country and the principles of freedom that make it great.” Stabenow has held her seat in the U.S. Senate since being elected in 2000.

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px}
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */