LAKE WYLIE, S.C. — Two days after House Budget Chairman John Spratt (D) headlined a dinner for the Lake North Democratic Forum at the River Hills Country Club, state Sen. Mick Mulvaney (R) was in the same dining room offering an update on the state of the race to a luncheon hosted by a group of local Republican women.

According to the latest internal poll numbers from Mulvaney’s camp, the contest, which is being closely watched by the national media, continues to be a dead heat. A poll conducted July 22-25 showed Mulvaney and Spratt tied at 46 percent with 9 percent undecided. The poll, conducted by the GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies, surveyed 400 likely 5th district voters and had a 4.9-point margin of error.

A mid-May poll by the Mulvaney campaign also showed the candidates statistically tied, with Spratt at 43 percent and Mulvaney at 41 percent, with 15 percent undecided.

Not surprisingly, Spratt’s polling is showing a different story.

“I’m ahead of him,” Spratt said on Wednesday evening, referring to his own internal polling. “I don’t want to get into the details but by enough to give me a little bit of breathing room.”

With just over two months to go in the campaign, Mulvaney acknowledges that one of his main jobs on the campaign trail is to continue to introduce himself to voters, especially those outside his state Senate district who may not know him but are nearly universally familiar with the 14-term Congressman.

“When the negative campaigning starts, he’s going to raise my name ID for me,” Mulvaney said. “My job is just let people know that I am not what he’s going to try to make me out to be. … People have already decided they don’t want Mr. Spratt. They have already made that decision. The question is am I a viable alternative. That’s the race.”