In a strange, late-developing twist in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, Republican Jason Lewis abruptly stopped campaigning Monday to undergo emergency hernia surgery.
Later in the evening, his headquarters announced that the surgery was a success and that Lewis, 65, would be returning in a few days to his campaign to defeat Democrat Sen. Tina Smith.
The hospitalization of Lewis came days after a SurveyUSA poll showed — almost incredibly — the conservative Republican hopeful in a near-tie with Smith. According to SurveyUSA, Smith leads Lewis 43% to 42% among likely voters.
Similar results were found by the most recent Change Research poll, which showed Smith leading Lewis 48% to 44%.
The Gopher State has not elected a Republican senator since 2002 and Lewis, a former one-term congressman, has been heavily outspent by the Democrat incumbent.
"Tina Smith is not a dynamic speaker or campaigner," veteran Minnesota conservative activist John Augustine told Newsmax, contrasting her with Lewis, who spent many years before going to Congress as a radio talk show host and TV commentator.
Augustine also noted that "Smith is not nearly as well-known or able to appear as folksy as [the state's other Democrat Sen. Amy] Klobuchar. Outside the Twin Cities metro, there are still plenty of people who haven't heard of either Smith or Lewis. This race is flying under the radar in MN this year. There were few debates, even of the virtual variety, and the last ones were held a long time ago."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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