Mandela Barnes is hitting the road — again.
The lieutenant governor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate on Saturday will kick off a statewide tour in Green Bay aimed at “holding Ron Johnson accountable for his record of working to rip away Wisconsinites’ ability to access abortion,” his campaign told the Cap Times.
“It’s time for Ron Johnson to answer for his record of endangering women and fighting to strip them of their rights,” Barnes said in a statement.
“Ron Against Roe,” as the Barnes’ campaign is branding the tour, comes after weeks of television ads from Johnson — in which he attacks the lieutenant governor’s record on crime — that have, in part, shifted the focus of the U.S. Senate race. Moving the spotlight of the race back to abortion access could help Barnes, as recent polls have seen his post-primary lead turn into a small deficit.
A Marquette University Law School poll released earlier this month showed that 77% of registered Wisconsinites were somewhat or very concerned about abortion policy. A separate Marquette poll released in August found that 65% of Wisconsinites support abortion being legal in all or most cases.
Barnes has said he believes the abortion access guaranteed by Roe vs. Wade — the U.S. Supreme Court’s former precedent establishing a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy — should be codified in federal law. He has also said lawmakers should not interfere with what he believes are decisions that should be made by women and their physicians.
The Barnes campaign pointed to Johnson’s past co-sponsorship of multiple national abortion ban bills and a bill that would have provided constitutional protections to people “at the moment of fertilization” as evidence that he is against abortion access. It also highlighted his decision to sign on to an amicus brief supporting a Mississippi law that banned abortion without exceptions after 15 weeks that was challenged in a lawsuit as further proof.
That lawsuit, Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, and triggered Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, which outlaws most abortions in the state.
Johnson is not a co-sponsor of a recent national abortion ban bill introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina. Johnson also recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he wants to see Wisconsin voters modify the state’s 1849 abortion law via referendum. That is not currently possible in Wisconsin without action from the Legislature.
The tour will also feature stops in Milwaukee, Racine, Madison and Eau Claire.
Barnes will take on Johnson in Nov. 8’s general election.
