WASHINGTON, DC – Mandela Barnes is kicking off a tour of rural Wisconsin counties, saying: “We just can’t assume that people in rural communities won’t show up to vote for us. We have to have a presence.”
That’s interesting, because Barnes said the exact opposite just a few years ago:
AP: Barnes says he’s not interested in Obama-Trump voters
Barnes said of rural voters in 2018: “If they voted for Obama and they voted for Trump and they’re still with him, you can keep them.” This is in a state Donald Trump won in his successful 2016 run for President.
There are four Obama-Trump counties on Barnes’ rural tour: Chippewa, Marathon, Brown, and Racine. All four counties voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
What’s worse? In January 2022, Barnes stereotyped rural voters as conspiracy theorists not worth spending time on persuading: “I am going to be very honest with you – I am not going to get their votes… We don’t have the time to spend our wills, again, on people who have denied climate change, people who deny the impacts of this virus, or people who deny that the election was legitimate. That would be a losing strategy for us.”
“Mandela Barnes is the worst kind of elitist politician who looks down his nose at rural voters while asking them to vote for him. His appeals will fall flat because – like the elite Washington Democrats he’s seeking to join – he and his party have not only lost touch with average Americans, they ridicule and denigrate them.” -SLF Communications Director Jack Pandol
