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Are prospects for a Republican hold in the Pennsylvania Senate race improving? Salena Zito<\/a> joined me for today\u2019s podcast, bringing back her Middle of Somewhere granular reporting back to TEMS. Salena has been doing excellent reporting on the state of the race, where polls have tightened of late. Mehmet Oz now routinely finds himself in the margin-of-error range of John Fetterman in polling,<\/a> who has all sorts of other problems.<\/p>\n Some of them are still related to Fetterman\u2019s health. Salena describes a state legislative session on Monday in which Fetterman really struggled to communicate effectively. Other issues look more organic to Fetterman\u2019s politics and how distant they are from the Pennsylvania mainstream. On that score, the Free Beacon\u2019s Chuck Ross reported today<\/a> on Fetterman\u2019s new campaign partner, Brand New Congress \u2014 a PAC set up by former Bernie Sanders staffers that explicitly backed Defund the Police:<\/p>\n Senate hopeful John Fetterman says he opposes efforts to defund police departments. That could put him at odds with his latest campaign partner, a left-wing political action committee that has called critics of the radical cause \u201csqueamish centrists\u201d and \u201cappeasers.\u201d<\/p>\n Brand New Congress, founded by organizers for Bernie Sanders\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign, on Tuesday endorsed Fetterman as a \u201cbold, progressive voice\u201d who if elected will bring \u201ctransformational change\u201d to the Senate. The organization also announced a joint fundraising initiative with Fetterman that will split contributions between the PAC and Fetterman\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n Brand New Congress has repeatedly called to defund law enforcement and said it supports progressives who are \u201cunapologetic\u201d in supporting that and other \u201crevolutionary change.\u201d The group has urged lawmakers to sign Rep. Cori Bush\u2019s (D., Mo.) pledge to defund police and has accused former president Barack Obama of \u201cappeasement\u201d for criticizing the movement\u2019s slogan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Salena also discusses the surprisingly fast adaptation that Oz has made to make himself a much more formidable candidate. Fetterman has tried to make hay from Oz\u2019 wealth and properties outside of Pennsylvania, but Oz has taken to the kind of retail politicking that gains grassroots support. Fetterman simply isn\u2019t capable of keeping up with Oz on the campaign trail, but Salena has. He\u2019s doing much better at the grip-and-grin aspects than he did in the GOP primary. And while Oz may be creeping closer to Fetterman in the polls, Salena thinks Oz\u2019 standing has risen much higher than the polls are showing at the moment.<\/p>\n Also on today\u2019s Ed Morrissey Show podcast:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Ed Morrissey Show is now a fully downloadable and streamable show at \u00a0Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0the TEMS Podcast YouTube channel<\/a>, and on Rumble and our own in-house portal at the #TEMS page<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n