Democratic Senate candidate for Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes, announced a $20.1 million fundraising haul Wednesday as he tries to oust Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Barnes, the sitting lieutenant governor in the state, raised the $20 million between July and September and said his campaign did so without help from corporate political action committees. He is trailing the incumbent Republican in the polls by about 2 to 3 points, on average.
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“It’s clear from the unparalleled grassroots support across the state that Wisconsinites stand with Mandela Barnes as he holds Ron Johnson accountable for supporting an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the woman,” campaign spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel said in a statement. “This quarter’s show of support is proof that Wisconsinites are ready to replace out-of-touch Ron Johnson and his dangerous record with the pro-worker, pro-choice champion Mandela Barnes.”
The campaign said it received nearly half a million individual contributions from 230,000 total donors. Barnes has targeted Johnson for supporting the end of Roe v. Wade, which returned abortion policy back to the states. He recently launched an advertising campaign against Johnson called “Ron Against Roe,” which highlights the various abortion restrictions he’s backed.
Johnson’s campaign has targeted Barnes’s record on public safety, accusing him of being “dangerously liberal on crime” in a recent ad. Spokesman Mike Marinella told the Washington Examiner, “All the out-of-state liberal money in the world can’t change the fact Mandela Barnes supports the Defund the Police and Abolish ICE movements, wants to cut the prison population in half, and backs the same Biden economic policies that have led to 40-year high inflation and record gas prices.”
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Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are the only Republican-held Senate seats that are rated “toss-ups,” according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. Republicans need to defend all of their current seats and flip another one in order to gain a majority in the Senate in the midterm elections.
