Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) held on to his seat after a fierce contest that Democrats at one point saw as a prime Senate pick-up opportunity.
Barnes had out-raised Johnson significantly in the final weeks of the race and attracted star power to Wisconsin as national Democrats worried about his chances.
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Former President Barack Obama traveled to Wisconsin to rally for Barnes, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held three campaign events across the state to boost turnout for the party just days before the election.
But Johnson opened up a lead in the polls in mid-September that he maintained throughout the rest of the election.
He entered the final week of the race with a 4.2-percentage-point lead in the polls, according to the data website FiveThirtyEight.
Barnes worked to paint Johnson as an extreme Republican due to his support of former President Donald Trump and his questioning of the 2020 election results.
The state’s current lieutenant governor, Barnes was considered a rising star in a state that both parties have approached as a battleground in recent presidential cycles. Trump won Wisconsin in 2016, and President Joe Biden won it in 2020.
However, Barnes’s past support of unpopular progressive positions — in particular, the “Defund the police” movement of 2020 — gave Johnson ample opportunity to characterize his opponent as too far-left for the state.
Crime became a major theme of the race, with Barnes frequently on the defense about an issue that motivated a significant number of voters this year.
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Barnes has also advocated giving immigrants a path to citizenship on a widespread scale, allowing Johnson to portray him as a supporter of amnesty.
Fears about the Wisconsin Senate race grew as other competitive contests appeared to tighten in the last month of the midterm elections. Democrats had hoped unseating Johnson would give them a cushion if other Senate races tipped toward Republicans — a task that looked increasingly difficult as Election Day approached.
