NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, a far-left Democrat who nearly unseated Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in 2022, launched a campaign for governor on Tuesday.
Barnes enters the race to replace retiring Gov. Tony Evers, D-Wis., as the likely frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary field. But unlike his lesser-known rivals, Barnes brings the baggage of a nationalized, multimillion-dollar Senate race that exposed years of radical positions and a record Republicans have already used to define him statewide.
Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisc., the most high-profile Republican in Wisconsin’s upcoming gubernatorial contest, on Tuesday took a “trip down memory lane on why far-left extremist Mandela Barnes would be WRONG for Wisconsin.”
“Mandela Barnes is a far-left extremist. The fact that he is the Democrat frontrunner shows just how radical and out of touch the party has become. Wisconsinites rejected him in 2022, and they will do it again in 2026,” Tiffany said in a statement.
MANDELA BARNES ANNOUNCES BID FOR WISCONSIN GOVERNOR AFTER NARROW 2022 SENATE LOSS
Then-Senate candidate Mandela Barnes is seen leaving a canvas launch event on Nov. 7, 2022, in Glendale, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reported extensively on Barnes during the 2022 midterm elections before he lost by 1 percentage point to Johnson in a race that exposed vulnerabilities likely to plague his upcoming gubernatorial run.
MANDELA BARNES HAS LONG HISTORY WITH GROUP THAT SEEKS TO BAN GANG DATABASES, MAKE WISCONSIN A SANCTUARY STATE
From ties to groups who called for defunding the police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to drafting legislation to ban hollow-point bullets and assault rifles, here’s a look back at the storylines that dominated Barnes’ Senate campaign.
Fox News Digital reported in Oct. 2022 that Barnes has a long history with a liberal nonprofit group that aims to defund the police, get rid of…
