The race between Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in Wisconsin is becoming increasingly personal as the race comes to a close.
In a radio interview, Johnson, who beat Feingold in 2010, repeated his view that he did not respect Feingold.
"He says one thing, does something completely different," Johnson said. "I would call that phony. And so when I was asked if I respect Sen. Feingold, no I don't. I don't respect phoniness."
In response to Johnson's original statement on Friday, Feingold responded by saying "I respect Sen. Johnson."
"I've not heard a lot of that kind of thing in the races I've been in in the past," Feingold said. "But I realize when somebody's desperate, when a politician feels like he's probably going to lose, he gets a little shaky on that and starts maybe doing some things he shouldn't do."
In a memo, Feingold's campaign manager, Tom Russell, compared Johnson's rhetoric to that of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"Any semblance of Wisconsin nice is gone," Russell wrote. "In its place is a hysterical scorched-earth strategy of nasty personal attacks."
A Real Clear Politics average of polls in the race shows Feingold with a 5-point advantage.
