For about an hour Wednesday night, the crunchy green artificial turf of the big indoor practice field at Newtown Athletic Club in Bucks County offered a kind of a safe space for Kathy Barnette to revel in her new status as sudden-shock co-front-runner in Pennsylvania’s GOP U.S. Senate primary, in the election that could tip the balance of power in Washington in 2023.
Barnette, that kind of vague B-list Fox News pundit who’s never held elected office, basked in the loud whoops from about 400 Republican faithful when she was introduced at a panel of six contenders that also included her top rival, the TV celebrity Mehmet Oz. The candidate-forum format allowed her to mostly avoid the main election issues, to pitch her slight but compellingly-crafted narrative.
“I am you,” the 50-year-old Barnette said, voicing her campaign slogan. “I come from very humble beginnings — pig farm, Alabama, and a home with no insulation, no running water, and an outhouse in the back and a well on the side, but this country allowed me to create a different narrative for myself.”
