The fundamental issue facing Wisconsin voters in the race for the U.S. Senate on Nov. 8 is whether they want a working-class senator who wants to represent the people of this state or a millionaire senator who serves only himself.
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, born and raised in Wisconsin and deeply rooted in this state and its communities, promises to fight for workers, for farmers, for conservation and for the right to choose.
Barnes’ promise is backed up by a track record — as a community organizer working with urban churches, as a state legislator who stood up to corporate special interests, and as a lieutenant governor who traveled to all 72 counties to make sure state government works for the people — that inspires confidence that he will deliver.
The prospect that Barnes could beat U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in November unsettles the billionaires who fund GOP campaigns, and who know Wisconsin has a pivotal role to play in determining which party will control the U.S. Senate going forward, and by what margin. Their fear is palpable. They are prepared to pay any price and tell any lie in order to keep Johnson in the Senate. Barnes is in their way, so they are determined to destroy him, just as Republicans tried to destroy Sen. Tammy Baldwin when she ran in 2012 and 2018.
Baldwin beat them in both those elections.
Barnes can beat them this time.
If Democrats, independents and Republicans with a conscience take an honest look at the two candidates, they will reach the conclusion that Baldwin did when she said: “Mandela has shown an unprecedented ability to unite Wisconsinites in a coalition that includes farmers, union leaders, teachers, small business owners and working people all across this state. He’s been able to do it because he gets us. He’s a proud product of Wisconsin’s middle class — the son of a public school teacher and a third-shift autoworker. And he has spent the last decade fighting for working people as a community organizer, state legislator and our lieutenant governor.”
In her endorsement of Barnes, Baldwin said, “I cannot think of a better person to be a partner to me in the United States Senate, as we fight to protect the right to choose, bring good union jobs back to Wisconsin and rebuild the middle class so we can give everyone a fair shot at the American dream.”
Baldwin is right. Barnes would be a great partner for her — and a great senator for Wisconsin.
Over the past decade, Johnson has cancelled out Baldwin’s votes to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, to establish fair tax policies, to defend democracy and to save the planet. Barnes would vote with Baldwin for the progressive agenda that polls show Wisconsinites overwhelmingly favor. And he would take the lead in the fight to preserve abortion rights at a time when Johnson seeks to dismantle them.
Johnson has explicitly declared that he will not lift a finger to help bring good-paying union jobs to communities such as Oshkosh — where members of the United Auto Workers union are fighting for a chance to build the next generation of vehicles that the United States Postal Service plans to spend $6 billion to produce. Johnson went so far as to say, "I wouldn't insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin.”
Barnes, like Baldwin, recognizes that senators are supposed to insert themselves into debates about where federal funding will go — especially when those debates involve the future for workers and communities they represent.
The stark contrast between Barnes and Johnson would, in any honest competition, tip this race to the Democratic challenger.
Unfortunately, the billionaires who rely on Johnson to represent them have gone out of their way to prevent this from being an honest race. They have poured tens of millions of dollars into the most vicious negative campaign Wisconsinites have ever seen. The campaign against the first Black candidate ever to win a major-party nomination for the U.S. Senate has taken on a crudely racist tenor. Republicans are literally referring to Barnes — someone they have worked with in the Legislature and on statewide issues — as “dangerous.” They know that the attacks are based on false premises.
Yet the smears continue. Why? Because the powerful interests that fund Republican campaigns are desperate to keep Johnson in Washington — just as Johnson is desperate to stay there.
Johnson craves power — so much so that this year he broke a promise to serve only two Senate terms and announced that he would run for a third. Why? Because life in Washington has been very good to Johnson. The millionaire senator acknowledges that his fortune has doubled since he was elected 12 years ago. Investigative reports have revealed how Johnson has used his position to promote tax breaks that benefit him and his wealthy donors. And he’s gotten caught jetting off to his mansion in Florida at taxpayer expense.
Being a senator is a sweet deal for Johnson. But having Johnson as a senator has been a lousy deal for Wisconsin workers and farmers, for people who rely on Social Security and Medicare and for communities that have been devastated by deindustrialization.
Ron Johnson openly declares that he will not lift a finger to address that devastation.
In stark contrast, Mandela Barnes is ready to fight for every Wisconsin worker. And every Wisconsin community.
The choice could not be clearer. Give Tammy Baldwin a partner in the Senate. Elect Mandela Barnes.
