Since the time that the Wisconsin Democratic primary for the US Senate started, there has been very little fluctuation regarding the candidates or their relative rankings. There were always four main contenders and several other lesser known candidates.
Of the main contenders, first place in any poll, private or public, was Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes. Second was always the CEO for the Milwaukee Bucks Alex Lasry. Third place was consistently Wisconsin State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski. Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, who was unable to gain any traction, was always bringing up the rear.
But suddenly, with less than two weeks to go before the fall primary on August 9, the ways has cleared for Barnes. On Monday, Nelson dropped out and endorsed Barnes. A logical move since Nelson wasn't going anywhere and had issues with the other two candidates.
But on Wednesday, the political landscape shook when Lasry also dropped out to endorse Barnes.
On Friday, it was Godlewski's turn to make the collective jaws of Wisconsin voters drop to the ground when she also suspended her campaign and endorsed Barnes.
What happened to cause this sudden shift? To put it briefly, with the election nearing, their was a sudden groundswell of support for Barnes. While Lasry was once within three points of Barnes, an internal poll by his campaign showed that he was suddenly down by double digits with little time to move the needle much. The other two were also out of contention as well.
Barnes has always been very popular due to his blue collar background and his ability to relate to the working families in Wisconsin. He is also fearless and not afraid to take on controversial topics or people. He also has a lot of endorsements from some rather popular politicians such as Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and AOC.
And how does RoJo feel about this turn of events? This tweet shows that he knows that he's already in trouble by starting to attack this early:
Showing their lack of respect for voters and the democratic process, the power brokers of the Democrat party have now cleared the field for their most radical left candidate. Socialist policies have produced this mess, & a radical left Senator from Wisconsin is not the solution. https://t.co/bQoLFBc6ek
— Ron Johnson (@RonJohnsonWI) July 29, 2022
It won't be easy for Barnes. Despite RoJo being a treasonous fool who would rather see people die from a pandemic than spend a single penny on a vaccine, he will have plenty of dark money coming in. In fact, some of the state's billionaires who benefitted personally form RoJo's amendment to the 2017 GOP tax scam have pooled millions of dollars into a PAC for the sole purpose of keeping him in office.
It does give me heart that Barnes does seem to have the Democrats united behind him without any controversies about emails or gender or race or other excuses being used. You can learn more about Barnes, including how to help his campaign, at his website.
