Working Families Party Endorses Mandela Barnes, Former WFP Leader, for U.S. Senate
Powerful personal story, proven ability to inspire voters, and record of service on the issues that matter make Mandela Barnes best equipped to serve Wisconsin, WFP says
For more information, contact: Madeline Stocker at 860.808.7857 or mstocker@workingfamilies.org, or
Rob Duffey at 646.463.3267 or rduffey@workingfamilies.org
WISCONSIN: The Wisconsin Working Families Party announced its endorsement of Lt. Governor and former WFP National Committee member Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate.
The son of a union teacher and a union autoworker, Mandela was born in one of the most under-invested zip codes in Milwaukee, and has seen firsthand how the GOP has hurt working families across Wisconsin. As Lt. Governor, Mandela Barnes has established himself as a leader on the issues that are driving politics, from COVID relief to racial justice, police accountability, women’s rights to climate change, workers rights to gun safety, voting rights to healthcare to small businesses to the Capitol insurrection. He earned the majority vote of nearly every WI county in his 2018 victory in the Democratic Primary despite being outspent more than two to one, becoming part of the ticket that produced historic midterm turnout and defeated Scott Walker.
“Mandela Barnes is the model Working Families Democrat,” said Maurice Mitchell, Working Families Party National Director. “Mandela comes from the communities he wants to represent, and he will fight hard to deliver jobs, care, and justice to his constituents. There’s no better candidate to send Ron Johnson packing, and we’re proud to fight alongside Mandela for a future where all of us can thrive.”
“I’m thrilled to have the support of the Working Families Party,” said Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. No matter what you look like or where you live, we all deserve a decent job, healthcare, clean air and water. The WFP is fighting for a democracy that works for all of us, not just a wealthy few. That’s why I helped launch the Wisconsin WFP, and why I’ll always be proud to be a Working Families Democrat.”
The Working Families Party is a progressive grassroots political party building a multiracial, multigenerational, and feminist movement of working people to transform America. In Wisconsin, after the Party helped elect Gov. Tony Evers and WFP National Committee Member Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the Party swept the MPS elections, a victory that served as a mid-point for an incredible progressive winning streak for the WFP in local elections across America. The WI WFP then went on to pass the MPS referendum and win key seats in the April election. That fall, WI WFP activists and volunteers ran a massive get out the vote effort to elect Joe Biden, collecting 95,000 commitments to vote from voters across the state — nearly quadruple Trump’s margin of victory in Wisconsin for 2016, and helped protect Gov. Evers’ veto in the state legislature.
In 2020, the Working Families Party led a $2.5 million voter mobilization effort in Georgia to elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate, helped elect WFP champions Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones in heavily contested Congressional races, drove a wave of victories for progressives in Rhode Island, shook up the New Mexico Democratic establishment with progressive victories under the banner of “No Corporate Dems,” elected a diverse slate of progressives in Delaware, and helped create the most progressive NY state legislature in decades by winning thirty-three state legislative primaries.
