Few expect Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D, Md.) to lose this November, but a recent poll by Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm, gives Eric Wargotz a 34–31 percent lead over the incumbent. In light of this poll, Wargotz has pledged an additional $500,000 to his campaign. Wargotz, a doctor from Maryland’s Eastern Shore and a Queen Anne’s County commissioner, is fed up with excessive spending and ballooning deficits in Washington. Mikulski, he says, votes in lock-step with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, “effectively giving Nevada a third senator.…It’s time for Maryland to get its second Senate seat back.” Wargotz faces financial hurdles and a lack of name recognition, and Dr. Paul Herrnson, a government and politics professor at the University of Maryland, calls Wargotz’s changes “extremely slim.” But Wargotz thinks he can beat the odds: “I am in this race to win it.” After all, he says, “If you believe you can do a better job, then you step up.”

CORRECTION:

I made a mistake when reading these poll results. The Wargotz campaign said in their statement that the Tarrance Group poll put him in the lead in Baltimore County. By failing to mention this fact, I implied that this was a statewide poll, which is incorrect.

– Jesse Naiman is a Collegiate Network intern at National Review.