When video surfaced of Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson telling a group of Republicans, “I don’t know about you guys, but I think climate change is bulls***”, Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes called him out.
Mandela won statewide office in 2018 after attending the PCCC’s candidate training — running on Medicare For All and opportunity for all. He supports a Green New Deal and other progressive priorities.
He’s popular, he’s progressive, and now Mandela Barnes has joined the race to flip this key 2022 Senate seat blue.
Ron Johnson is one of the worst senators. He’s spread so much disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines that YouTube banned him. He praises Putin and denies climate change.
Wisconsin’s biggest newspaper calls Ron Johnson “fundamentally dangerous.”
We are proud to endorse both Mandela Barnes and “Wisconsin 14” state senator Chris Larson — the two bold progressives in this 7-person U.S. Senate race.
We hope you’ll support both of their campaigns so progressives have an advantage.
ABOUT MANDELA BARNES…
Mandela Barnes is the first African American to serve as Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor and the second African American elected to statewide office in Wisconsin. As Lt. Governor, Mandela has been a strong advocate for criminal justice reform, health care, climate justice, and fair elections — and he has taken the fight to right-wing extremists.
A Wisconsin native, Mandela was born in Milwaukee’s poorest zip code, which is also the nation’s most incarcerated zip code. He was elected to the state assembly at the age of 25, where he championed working family economic and criminal justice reform issues.
ABOUT CHRIS LARSON…
Back in 2011, long before Texas legislators recently left their chamber to stop right-wing Republicans from suppressing voting rights, Chris Larson was a leader of the Wisconsin 14 — senators who left the state to block then-Governor Scott Walker from attacking workers and democracy.
At the time, Chris was only 30 years old. But in the decade since — including as Wisconsin’s Senate Democratic leader — he’s consistently led on the front lines against right-wing extremists in Wisconsin who were an early warning of Trump’s MAGA Q-anon supporters to come. He was an early endorser of Elizabeth Warren for President.
When we endorsed Chris Larson in this race a few weeks ago, we said “this race is too important for us to sit on the sidelines…and if another bold progressive jumps in, we’ll endorse them too.”
Mandela Barnes is just such a candidate. Like Chris, Mandela is a longtime ally of PCCC, national progressives, and Wisconsin progressives. Mandela and Chris are the 2 candidates in this 7-way race who will reliably fight for Medicare For All, a Green New Deal, and bold progressive policies.
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
— Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, PCCC co-founders