What You Need to Know: Mandela Barnes

Mandela Barnes is attempting to run a middle-of-the-road campaign catered toward the working class in Wisconsin, but there’s a reason he’s been endorsed by some of the staunchest progressives in the Democratic Party such as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and AOC.

Despite his made-for-the-campaign-trail rhetoric, Barnes is an unabashed liberal. But don’t just take our word for it:

• “Barnes, who boasts that he is the most progressive candidate in the race, has so far established himself as an early frontrunner among nearly a dozen other Democratic primary candidates.”
• “Barnes will ‘very clearly be seen as the most or one of the most progressive members in the Senate,’ the [Democratic] strategist added. ‘He would have a big national profile in that role in the same way that the Squad members do in the House.’”
• “‘That’s why not just expanding the majority but making sure that we have a progressive majority in the United States Senate,’ [Barnes] emphasized, ‘is so important.’”

He also has the political ideology to back it up:

• On the economy: Barnes touted Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which experts have deemed as the “original sin” that drove inflation.
  • Barnes supported the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, which doubles the size of the IRS, raises the tax burden on Americans making less than $400,000 per year, and could even worsen inflation.
• On health care: Barnes supports a “Medicare for All” system that would abolish private health insurance and could eliminate as many as 2 million jobs.
• On energy and the environment: Barnes supports the Green New Deal calling it “a necessity for us at this moment.” The policy would cost the average Wisconsin family more than $40,000 per year and cause $200 million in losses to Wisconsin farmers.
• On immigration: Barnes posed for a photo holding a shirt that said “Abolish ICE” made by the Democratic Socialists of America in 2018.
• On defunding the police: Two of Barnes’ biggest donors are major funders of the “defund the police” movement and successfully campaigned to remove police officers from schools in Oakland, California.
• On the filibuster: Barnes supports abolishing the filibuster in order to pass a large swath of liberal policies.

Bottom line: If voters in Wisconsin are looking for a Senator who will join the likes of the Squad to implement a radical, costly agenda – then Mandela Barnes is their guy.