Barnes gets support from Warren for primary
Senator calls Johnson ‘extremist’ Republican
Elizabeth Warren swooped into Milwaukee Saturday to boost Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, urging Democrats to push him through the Aug. 9 primary and on to a fall showdown with Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.
“We just need a progressive fighter like Mandela,” Warren told more than 100 supporters packed into Anodyne Coffee in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood.
Warren, the Democratic U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and former 2020 presidential contender, called Johnson one of the “most extremist Republicans.”
She also made a plea for Barnes’ supporters to open their wallets as he faces several rivals who have poured millions into their campaigns.
Warren said Barnes “is not a billionaire, cannot just write a check to fund an idea.”
“Mandela from the very beginning has had to build it with $5 and $10 donations and volunteers,” she said.
Warren said the nation has a lot of problems, including “an extremist U.S. Supreme Court” that has “its toes right on the edge to knock Roe v. Wade completely off the political landscape.”
Warren, who has stumped with Barnes in previous campaigns, also appeared with the candidate at a Friday night event in Madison. Wisconsin Republicans were holding their state convention Saturday in the Madison suburb of Middleton.
With two and a half months to go before the primary, the Barnes campaign has kicked into high gear.
A Marquette University Law School Poll showed a race that appeared to be tightening, with Barnes leading Alex Lasry, on leave from his executive job with the Milwaukee Bucks. Other top Democratic contenders include state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.
While Lasry began airing TV advertisements last fall, and Godlewski aired her first spots in March, Barnes recently went up with his first TV buy
of the campaign.
In his spot, Barnes talked about the price of groceries and said “I’m not like most senators, or any of the other millionaires running for Senate,” a reference to multimillionaires Lasry, Godlewski and Johnson.
During his speech, Barnes took a few veiled swipes at his rivals, declaring, “We should be tired of out of touch multimillionaire politicians on both sides of the aisle who talk a big game and profit off of our troubles.”
“I don’t have millions and personal wealth,” he added.
He also criticized Johnson, claiming that the two-term incumbent “says these crazy things but what he’s doing in Washington is no joke.”
“He’s not doing his job,” Barnes said. “I’d be more than happy to do it for him.”
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, recalled how she helped connect political trailblazer Vel Phillips with Barnes years ago.
“And she anointed him to take the risk to run statewide,” Moore said of Phillips, the first African-American to hold statewide office in Wisconsin.
John Drew, vice president of UAW Local 72, called Barnes “the real deal, no excuses candidate.”
Republican National Committee spokesperson Rachel Reisner criticized Barnes for his stances on policing, immigration and abortion and said he “continues to flaunt the support of farleft radicals like Elizabeth Warren.”
“We invite Barnes to continue campaigning with the most radical Democrats to show just how out-of-touch he is with Wisconsin values,” Reisner said in a statement.