In fact, on Wednesday afternoon, it seemed like anyone with a Fox News show or a follower count in the six-digits on MAGA Twitter is speaking with the same voice: if Kathy Barnette wins the primary Tuesday, she is going to lose the Senate seat to a Democrat.

But for Barnette—a previously little-known author whose only other political credit is a landslide congressional defeat in 2020—all the attacks just showed that leading candidates David McCormick and Mehmet Oz think of her as a threat.

“I think I see it as a badge of honor,” Barnette said. “They’re actually paying attention to me.”…

Newsmax’s Greg Kelly called her a “race card playing scammer.” Former Trump acting intelligence director Ric Grenell called her “unfit for office,” highlighting a 2015 tweet in which Barnette said “pedophilia is a cornerstone of Islam.” Pro-Trump accounts have circulated a misleadingly edited video meant to portray Barnette, who is Black, as a radical Black Lives Matter supporter.