Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said a fabricated survey harmed her U.S. Senate campaign as Wedgewood Polls admitted Tuesday that it invented polling data after analysis site FiftyPlusOne asked about an investigation into its surveys.
McMorrow wrote on X that a late-June poll put her support in the single digits, at odds with her campaign’s internal polling. She said donations “dried up,” volunteers were shaken and reporters repeatedly urged her to leave the race.
Wedgewood said on X that it set up the fictional polling firm to test public and media responses to its claims. The company said the exercise exposed weak scrutiny of polling. FiftyPlusOne said Wedgewood accepted donor money to conduct polls and supplied raw results that the site judged fraudulent.
Politico reported that a Wedgewood survey put Francesca Hong ahead in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary; David Crowley later won that primary. In Mississippi, Politico reported, a separate Wedgewood poll portrayed the Senate race as competitive for Democrats. Senate candidate Scott Colom circulated the result to his press list as evidence of momentum for his campaign, the outlet said.
The Independent cited 270toWin data showing Mississippi had voted Republican in every U.S. Senate race since at least 1988. The outlet said Wedgewood’s polls might have affected some 2026 primaries. By the time The Independent tried to contact the firm, its website and X account had been taken down, it reported.
Abdul El-Sayed later won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. The reports emerged ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections, The Independent said.
