Article Author:
Associated Press
Scott Bauer
Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — Lieutenant Mandela Burns grew up in Milwaukee with a mother and father who were public school teachers. . She worked in a factory and both of them are union members, an important qualification in states where the labor movement is still strong.
At 35, Barnes is nearly half the age of the average U.S. Senator, and if she wins an election to the House of Representatives, she will be the first group of black senators from Wisconsin to join. will join.
The biography stands to turn Burns into one of America's most prominent Democrats this year, whose party is looking to defeat Republican Senator Ron Johnson. Burns' removal is such a high priority that his Democratic rivals have withdrawn from the primary in recent weeks and rallied around him.
"We wanted to make sure we could win this fall," said Alex Lasry, an executive with his closest rivals, the Milwaukee Bucks, who quit in favor of Barnes. sometimes told "That's the number one goal."
For the Democrats in the Senate, ousting Johnson has never been a higher priority. He is the only sitting Republican Senator seeking re-election this year in a state run by President Joe Biden. But Johnson has grown from a tea party outsider to one of Donald Trump's most vociferous supporters and senior senator from Wisconsin, proving to be tough to beat. 30}
This election was Johnson's first against anyone other than Russ Feingold, whom he lost in 2010 and lost in a rematch in 2016, and that loss still stings swing state liberals. Mr Johnson has previously said he would not run for office, but he is running for a third term.
"The Democrats will walk through fire and beat Ron Johnson across broken glass," said Democratic strategist Joe Zepecchi.
Burns increasingly focuses on the fall, emphasizing public image in campaign advertisements. That includes a grocery store ad where most senators say he doesn't know the price of a gallon of milk.
"But I'm not like most Senators," Barnes says, walking down the aisles of the store. "Or any other billionaire running for Senate. My mother was a teacher and my father worked three shifts."
In 2018, he won the statewide primary for lieutenant governor and was paired with Gov. Tony Evers. Evers then defeated Governor Scott Walker, who infuriated Democrats for eight years. Most famous is Act 10, which effectively ended collective bargaining for most civil servants.
Barnes still has to pass a handful of lesser-known opponents on Tuesday, but he already has his eyes on Johnson. He often compares defeating Walker to what it would take for Johnson to refuse to run for his third term.
"It's going to be a tough fight," Barnes said after Lasry was dropped from the race. "But now that we're together, I know it will be a lot easier. Remember, four years ago, the race to get rid of Scott Walker was an uphill battle." A lot of people said it was impossible, but we did it because we all worked together.”
Johnson raised nearly $7 million between April and June. more than the Democratic Party as a whole. Barnes has raised approximately $2.1 million. However, the week after Lasry and the others dropped out, Barnes reported that he had raised $1.1 million.
Burns received significant endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We built the most balanced campaign in the primary. Raise funds and deliver a message focused on developing that middle class. When it was reported, he took it as proof that he understood how important the program was to working people.
Burns accused Johnson of being "out of touch with Wisconsin," citing Johnson's decision not to save 1,000 jobs moving out of state, citing his top rival previewed his offensive strategy in his first TV ad after the dropout, and Johnson said at the time there were plenty of jobs in Wisconsin.
Johnson and Republicans are already working to portray Burns as too liberal for Wisconsin. In a state Trump won in 2016 and lost in 2020 by about the same number of votes, elections will once again hinge on beating a small but important group of independents.
"Democratic brokers have vacated the most radical left-wing candidate," Johnson tweeted ahead of the primary. "Socialist policies have caused this turmoil.& Wisconsin's Radical Left senators are not the solution." The Leadership Fund targeted Barnes for carrying an "ICE Abolished" T-shirt. His supportive comments on the Green New Deal and Medicaid for All. And in a 2020 tweet, he said, "I'm just dreaming that refusing to fund the police would be as radical as Donald Trump's pardon."
Republicans also criticized Burns' support for ending cash bail and the nation-building that Burns did at the candidate's city hall last fall against slavery and colonization. "The United States is the richest, most powerful country on earth, and it's because of forced labor on stolen land," Burns said.
Republican strategist and former Johnson campaign staffer Bryan Reisinger said winning the primary without facing future attacks could hurt Democrats.
"The question now for Democrats is whether they have a thorough vetting process to win candidates who can do things they haven't been able to do before," Reisinger said. "It's not clear if they really understand who can beat Ron Johnson. These candidates haven't really tested each other."
Barnes deflected questions about whether he would have been a stronger candidate had the Democratic primary been more controversial. The thing is, we're experiencing unity like we've never seen before," Barnes said. “In this state, we have stepped out of the gate to build a broader coalition. We are doing just that.
Johnson was the first elected fiscal conservative and was known for his attacks on spending and his enthusiasm for reducing the national debt. In recent years, with the rise of coronavirus and Trump's downfall, he has become a lightning rod for anti-scientific positions and conspiracy theories in the 2020 election.
He joined many Republicans who downplayed the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, not because he was scared of the rebels, but because they thought he was Black Lives Matter. He said he would have been worried if he had been a protester. A recent House committee hearing on Jan. 6 also revealed that Johnson wanted to hand over to Vice President Mike Pence ballots cast by fake Republican electors. .
Johnson's approval rating in the June 22 Marquette Law School poll was just 37% for him, lower than President Joe Biden's 40% approval rating. rice field. But Johnson was nearly even against Burns. But Republican enthusiasm for voting in the upcoming primary was higher than Democrats. Before Lasry dropped out, the 57-year-old retired computer analyst considered him, but she leaned toward Barnes.
"He's not just a millionaire to me, he's a real person," Thiordia said of Burns.