Wisconsin’s Lt. Gov. Barnes Advances to Face Incumbent Johnson in High-Spending Match-Up for US Senate

Incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson sailed past his only challenger in Wisconsin’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Aug. 9 and will face Wisconsin’s Lt. Gov. Barnes Mandela Barnes in the general election in November.

The Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ called the races for Johnson and Barnes not long after polls closed on Tuesday.

As expected, Barnes overshadowed the other four candidates in the Democratic contest. The field had shrunk in the final two weeks before the primary. Three candidates who had trailed Barnes, but were more popular than the remaining candidates, dropped out and endorsed the frontrunner.

Now Johnson and Barnes will square off in the general election on Nov. 8. The race could have one of “the tightest” finishes of any Senate race in the country, political analyst Joe Handrick told The Epoch Times.

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes speaks to the crowd gathered at Civic Center Park located outside of the Kenosha County Courthouse, in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 29, 2020. (Jim Vondruska/Reuters)

Johnson is favored to win in November, according to political forecasters Inside Elections and Sabato’s Crystal Ball. But Handrick, a Wisconsin native, says the incumbent’s victory shouldn’t be considered a sure thing. And that gives the race national importance.

The Republican party needs a net gain of just one seat to reclaim majority control of the Senate. Analysts across the nation have been predicting the GOP could pick up as many as three seats in the November midterm elections.

The U.S. Senate currently has a 50–50 split between the major parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties in the Democrats’ favor.

Senate-hopeful Barnes, 35, served two terms in his state’s legislature before being elected Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor in 2018.

His website shows a long list of endorsements from community leaders and describes his priorities. They include