Mandela Barnes | |
---|---|
![]() Barnes in 2019 | |
45th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin | |
In office January 7, 2019 –January 3, 2023 | |
Governor | Tony Evers |
Preceded by | Rebecca Kleefisch |
Succeeded by | Sara Rodriguez |
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 11th district | |
In office January 7,2013 –January 3,2017 | |
Preceded by | Jason Fields |
Succeeded by | Jason Fields |
Personal details | |
Born | Milwaukee,Wisconsin,U.S. | December 1,1986
Political party | Democratic |
Other political affiliations | Working Families |
Education | Alabama A&M University (BA) |
Signature | ![]() |
Website | Campaign website |
J. Mandela Barnes (born December 1,1986) is an American politician who served as the 45th lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2023. [1] A member of the Democratic Party,he was the state representative for the 11th district from 2013 to 2017. Barnes is the first African American to serve as Wisconsin's lieutenant governor. [2] [3]
Barnes was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Wisconsin,losing to incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson. [4]
Barnes was born in Milwaukee on December 1,1986, [5] [6] [7] the son of a public school teacher and a United Auto Workers member. Jesse is his father's name and his middle name,Mandela,is a tribute to the anti-apartheid activist and first South African black president Nelson Mandela. Barnes says he has gone by his middle name since birth. His legal name is J. Mandela Barnes. [8]
Barnes attended Holy Redeemer Christian Academy in Milwaukee;Milwaukee Public Schools,including John Marshall High School;and Alabama A&M University. [8]
Barnes was involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during college. [9] He has also said that Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention inspired him to rethink his post-college career. [9]
In August 2019,Barnes admitted that he had never officially completed his bachelor's degree in 2008 due to incomplete coursework in one class that he called a "minor technical issue",contrary to previous statements that he had graduated from Alabama A&M. [10] [11] [12] He received his B.A. degree in communications media specializing in performance on May 1,2020,after resolving the outstanding coursework issue with the university. [13]
Barnes worked for various political campaigns and in the office of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett,eventually becoming an organizer for M.I.C.A.H.,a Milwaukee-based interfaith coalition that advocates social justice. [14] He served as deputy director of strategic engagement for State Innovation Exchange,a national progressive public policy organization based in Madison,from December 2016 [15] to December 2017. [16]
In April 2012,Barnes announced his candidacy for Wisconsin's 11th Assembly district,representing the north side of Milwaukee and a small part of Wauwatosa,challenging incumbent Jason Fields in the Democratic primary election. [17] His campaign made major issues of Fields's support for the school voucher program and opposition to limiting interest rates charged by payday loan companies,which can exceed a 500% annual percentage rate. [18] [19]
Barnes defeated Fields in the August 2012 primary with 2,596 votes to Fields's 1,206. [20] In the November general election Barnes was unopposed. [21] He received 16,403 votes to 201 votes for others. [22]
As a state legislator in 2013,Barnes sponsored a bill that would have banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. [23]
Barnes was reelected in 2014 without a primary or general election challenge. [24]
Barnes sponsored a 2016 bill to eliminate cash bail. It would have barred judges from considering the "nature,number and gravity" of the charges and required the release of a defendant unless there was "clear and convincing evidence" of flight risk or of danger to an individual or witness. In February 2022,his campaign told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Barnes still supports the proposal,and if elected to the Senate,he would support a bill to end cash bail nationwide. [25]
Barnes served on the Assembly Committees on Corrections,Education,Jobs &the Economy,and Small Business Development. He also chaired the legislature's Black and Latino Caucus and helped lead a number of international delegations to the Middle East and southeast Asia. [26]
On April 11,2016,Barnes announced that he would resign from the Assembly to launch a primary challenge against Lena Taylor,the Democratic incumbent in Wisconsin's 4th State Senate district. Political science professor and former State Senator Mordecai Lee expressed surprise,noting both the rarity of Democratic Senate primaries and Wisconsin's 90% reelection rate for incumbents. [27] Lee framed the race as reflecting the broader struggle in the Democratic Party,pitting a young progressive challenger against an older,more centrist incumbent. [28]
Barnes lost to Taylor in the August 9 election,with 7,433 votes to her 11,454. [29]
In January 2018,Barnes announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in the 2018 election. [30]
In June 2018,Barnes won the Democratic Party of Wisconsin straw poll with 80.9% of the vote,earning 617 out of 763 votes. [31] During the primary,his name was omitted from election notices in three newspapers in two different counties. [32] The day before the election,his picture was used in a local news report about a fatal motorcycle crash. [32]
On August 14,2018,Barnes won the Democratic primary in a landslide over Sheboygan businessman Kurt Kober,and became the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tony Evers. Evers and Barnes won the November 2018 election,narrowly defeating incumbent Republicans Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch,49.5% to 48.4%. [33] Barnes became Wisconsin's first African American lieutenant governor [34] [35] and the nation's youngest lieutenant governor. [36]
Barnes was appointed chair of the governor's task force on climate change in October 2019. [37] In December 2020,the task force released its report containing 55 policy recommendations to address climate change in the state. [38] For the 2020 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee,he served as a vice chair of both the convention and the host committee. [39] [40]
In the first two months of his term,Barnes faced criticism for having logged more hours of security protection than the last lieutenant governor had in all of 2018,although Governor Evers's office approved the additional security. [41] In August 2022,the issue resurfaced when Barnes (now three years into his tenure) had reportedly used ten times as many security hours as his predecessor,who had declined security while doing personal tasks and did not run for the Senate while in office. [42]
In 2019,Barnes gave the Working Families Party response to the State of the Union address. [43]
On August 24,2020,the day after the shooting of Jacob Blake,in Kenosha,Wisconsin,Barnes said it was "not an accident",and "This wasn't bad police work. This felt like some sort of vendetta taken out on a member of our community." [32] On January 5,2021,he condemned the district attorney's decision not to prosecute the officers who shot Blake,tweeting,"The non-prosecuting DAs are as negligent as the officers in these situations". [44] [45]
On July 20, 2021, Barnes announced his candidacy for United States Senate in the 2022 election, contesting the seat held by Ron Johnson. Barnes was the eighth person to enter the race for the Democratic nomination. [46] By July 29, 2022, all of Barnes's major competitors had withdrawn from the race and endorsed him, leaving his way clear to be the presumptive Democratic nominee. [47]
Barnes and Johnson had the first of their two scheduled debates on October 7, 2022, in Milwaukee. [48]
In the general election, Johnson narrowly defeated Barnes. [49] If elected, Barnes would have become the first black person to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. [50] For his loss, his campaign and other Democratic strategists blamed Barnes' relative political inexperience, his vulnerability on policing and crime, the advantage of his opponent's incumbency, and that his campaign was outspent $64 million to $56 million after he was nominated. [51]
In February 2023, Barnes launched The Long Run PAC to help the U.S. political campaigns of "pro-democracy" Democratic candidates who are young, persons of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and/or have working class backgrounds. [52]
Barnes has branded himself as a progressive [50] and voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 and 2020 Wisconsin presidential primaries. [53]
Barnes supports legislation that would codify federal protections of abortion rights nationwide, [54] "to make Roe v Wade the law of the land", [55] and would eliminate the U.S. Senate filibuster to pass such a bill. [56] [57] [58]
Barnes has said he will "prioritize preventing gun violence by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people" if elected to the Senate, [59] saying in May 2022, "We can save lives or we can kowtow to the gun lobby." [60] He supports red-flag laws, universal background checks for gun sales, and bans on privately made firearms, assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines. He would vote to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which gives manufacturers and dealers liability protection when a purchaser uses a firearm to commit a crime. [59]
Barnes supports Medicare for All [50] [61] as well as incremental steps like lowering the age of enrollment from 65. [62] In September 2021, as a candidate for the Senate, Barnes said in a series of tweets, "In Washington, I'll be one of the few elected officials that have actually been on one of the programs we fund and debate" [63] and, referring to when he was enrolled in the Medicaid-based program in 2018, [64] "I've been on BadgerCare, and I've seen how critical it is for working people." [65] [66]
Barnes supports a Green New Deal, [61] [50] a $15/hour minimum wage, [48] eliminating cash bail nationwide, [25] and legalizing marijuana. [67]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Mandela Barnes | 326,855 | 68.0 | |
Democratic | Kurt Kober | 153,994 | 32.0 | |
Total votes | 480,839 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Tony Evers/Mandela Barnes | 1,324,648 | 49.6 | |
Republican | Scott Walker/Rebecca Kleefisch (Incumbent) | 1,293,799 | 48.4 | |
Libertarian | Phil Anderson/Patrick Baird | 20,320 | 0.8 | |
Total votes | 2,673,308 | 100.0 | ||
Democratic gain from Republican |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Mandela Barnes | 390,279 | 77.8 | |
Democratic | Alex Lasry (withdrawn) | 44,609 | 8.9 | |
Democratic | Sarah Godlewski (withdrawn) | 40,555 | 8.1 | |
Democratic | Tom Nelson (withdrawn) | 10,995 | 2.2 | |
Democratic | Steven Olikara | 5,619 | 1.1 | |
Democratic | Darrell Williams | 3,646 | 0.7 | |
Democratic | Kou Lee | 3,434 | 0.7 | |
Democratic | Peter Peckarsky | 2,446 | 0.5 | |
Total votes | 501,583 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Ron Johnson (Incumbent) | 1,337,185 | 50.4 | |
Democratic | Mandela Barnes | 1,310,467 | 49.4 | |
Write-in | 4,825 | 0.1 | ||
Total votes | 2,652,477 | 100.0 | ||
Republican hold |
Timothy James Michels is an American businessman and political candidate who co-owns and co-manages Michels Corporation, a family-owned and operated construction company. A member of the Republican Party, Michels was the party's unsuccessful nominee in the 2004 United States Senate election in Wisconsin and the 2022 Wisconsin gubernatorial election.
Lena C. Taylor is an American lawyer, judge, and former politician serving as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Milwaukee County, since January 2024. She previously served 19 years as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing the 4th State Senate district from 2005 to 2024, and was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for one term before that.
Scott Lawrence Fitzgerald is an American politician and former newspaper publisher. A Republican, he represents Wisconsin's 5th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes many of Milwaukee's northern and western suburbs, such as Waukesha, West Bend, Brookfield, and Mequon. He represented the 13th district in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1995 to 2021.
Thomas M. Nelson is an American public administrator and politician serving as the county executive of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, Nelson previously served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for six years, and was the Democratic majority leader for the 2009–2010 session. He was a candidate in the 2022 Democratic primary election for the United States Senate, he withdrew from the race in late July and endorsed Mandela Barnes.
United States gubernatorial elections were held in 12 states and two territories. Of the eight Democratic and four Republican seats contested, only that of North Carolina changed party hands, giving the Republicans a net gain of one governorship. These elections coincided with the presidential election on November 6, 2012. As of 2024, this marked the last time in which a Democrat won the governorship in Missouri and the last time in which a Republican won the governorship in North Carolina.
Christopher J. Larson is an American Democratic politician and a member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing southeast Milwaukee County since 2011. He was Senate minority leader from 2013 through 2014, and currently serves as Senate Democratic caucus chair.
Rebecca Ann Kleefisch is an American politician and former television reporter who served as the 44th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to the position on November 2, 2010, as the running mate of Governor Scott Walker; the pair narrowly lost reelection to a third term in 2018.
Anthony Steven Evers is an American educator and politician serving as the 46th governor of Wisconsin since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2009 to 2019.
Joshua Booth Green is an American politician and physician who has served since 2022 as the ninth governor of Hawaii. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 15th lieutenant governor of Hawaii from 2018 to 2022, a member of the Hawaii Senate from 2008 to 2018, and a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2004 to 2008.
Christine Elizabeth Smith is an American politician, retired Democratic political consultant, and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Minnesota since 2018. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the Democratic Party.
The 2018 Wisconsin gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018. It occurred concurrently with a Senate election in the state, elections to the state's U.S. House seats, and various other elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker sought re-election to a third term, and was challenged by Democratic candidate and then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers, as well as Libertarian Phil Anderson and independent Maggie Turnbull. Evers, along with his running mate Mandela Barnes, managed to defeat Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch in a closely fought and widely watched race, ending the state's Republican trifecta.
The 2018 United States Senate election in Wisconsin took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin. This election coincided with a gubernatorial election, U.S. House elections and various other state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic senator Tammy Baldwin won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican nominee Leah Vukmir by more than 10 percentage points. This was one of ten Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state Donald Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. The primary elections were held on August 14, with a filing deadline on June 1. Baldwin was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, while Vukmir defeated Charles Barman, Griffin Jones, George Lucia and Kevin Nicholson in the Republican primary.
The 2018 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 6, 2018. All of Wisconsin's partisan executive and administrative offices were up for election as well as one of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats, Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, seventeen seats in the Wisconsin State Senate, and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The 2018 Wisconsin Fall Partisan Primary was held August 14, 2018. There were also special elections held during 2018 for three State Assembly seats and two state senate seats.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate from Wisconsin. The party primaries were held on August 9, 2022. Incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson won re-election to a third term, defeating Democratic lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes by 26,718 votes — a one-point margin of victory.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 2022, in 36 states and three territories. As most governors serve four-year terms, the last regular gubernatorial elections for all but two of the seats took place in the 2018 U.S. gubernatorial elections. The gubernatorial elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections, as part of the 2022 midterm elections.
Sarah Ann Godlewski is an American businesswoman and politician serving as the 31st secretary of state of Wisconsin since March 2023. She was previously the 36th state treasurer of Wisconsin (2019–2023).
The 2022 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Wisconsin. Incumbent Democratic Governor Tony Evers won re-election to a second term by a margin of 3.4%, defeating Republican nominee Tim Michels.
The 2022 Wisconsin fall general election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 8, 2022. All of Wisconsin's partisan executive and administrative offices were up for election, as well as one of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats, and Wisconsin's eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The fall election also filled the seventeen odd-numbered seats in the Wisconsin Senate and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly for the 106th Wisconsin Legislature. The 2022 Wisconsin fall primary was held on August 9, 2022.
The 2022 Georgia lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. It coincided with various other statewide elections, including for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Governor of Georgia. Georgia is one of 21 states that elects its lieutenant governor separately from its governor.
The 2022 Milwaukee mayoral special election was held on April 5, 2022, concurrent with Wisconsin's spring general election, to elect a new mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, following the resignation of mayor Tom Barrett in December 2021. Acting mayor Cavalier Johnson, who had been president of the common council when Barrett resigned, won the election, receiving 71% of the vote and defeating alderman Bob Donovan. Johnson became the first African American elected mayor of Milwaukee.