Lawyer Andy Barr (R) is within 7 points of Rep. Ben Chandler (D) in the Lexington-based 6th district, according to a new internal Barr campaign polling memo obtained by Roll Call.

The poll, which was in the field Monday and Tuesday, showed the Congressman ahead 49 percent to 42 percent, with 9 percent undecided.

Barr’s poll is not only significant because it showed the Congressman under the all-important 50 percent mark, but it also pushes back against a Chandler poll from earlier this week that showed the Congressman with a 20-point lead. A Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee survey from earlier this month put Chandler up by 14 points.

Barr’s poll of 407 likely voters was conducted by the GOP firm the Tarrance Group and had a 4.9-point margin of error.

The poll was in the field at the same time that Chandler was running an attack ad that sought to tie Barr to the political scandals of his previous employer, former Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R).

Democrats have made it clear that they intend to make Barr’s previous work for the disgraced former governor a front-and-center issue in the general election. Barr worked as a deputy general counsel to Fletcher — who was defeated in his re-election bid in the wake of a hiring scandal that made national headlines — before taking a job at the Lexington-based law firm Kinkead & Stilz.

Republicans have been focused on tying Chandler to his Democratic leadership. The National Republican Congressional Committee has already spent six figures on an ad that describes Chandler as a “lap dog” of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).