Wisconsin Democrat Senate Candidate Mandela Barnes Tests Radical Socialist Agenda in Midterm Battleground

MADISON, WI - JULY 23: Lt. Gov. of Wisconsin and democratic candidate for US senate, Mande
Sara Stathas for the Washington Post via Getty
Wendell Husebø

Senate Democrat candidate Mandela Barnes has a far-left record that mirrors Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) political agenda as he looks to defeat Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in the swing state of Wisconsin in November.

While Wisconsin voted to elect President Joe Biden in 2020 by less than one percent (49.4-48.8 percent), Barnes is campaigning as a Democrat but has served as a “long-time leader” of the Working Families Party. The organization has positioned itself as a “national left-wing organization responsible for supporting and mainstreaming the most radical ideas and politicians in America,” 1130 WSIN reported.

The political force is the same group that backed Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 campaign. The self-designated socialist has seemingly been the ideological leader of the far-left, which has advocated for defunding the police, abolishing the Electoral College, packing the Supreme Court, and canceling the Senate filibuster.

Barnes, who serves as the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, has also repeatedly called for defunding “over-bloated” police departments and has stated it “pains” him to see fully funded police budgets. Barnes has additionally called for “a reduction of spending” on state corrections budgets, along with suggesting that he “wish[es] we could accelerate” releasing violent criminals from prison.

Barnes’ radical agenda also includes wanting to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), supporting driver’s licenses for illegal immigrations, and backing in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.

If that is not enough, Barnes favors entirely government-run health care, canceling the Senate filibuster, packing the Supreme Court, and destroying the economy to stop the warming of the globe.

“In order to address this crisis and the environmental injustices associated with it, we must take urgent action, and we must ensure those actions are equitable and inclusive—anything less will continue the long pattern of environmental racism we have witnessed in this country,” Barnes has stated.

Polling shows Barnes is leading Johnson by 7 points.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

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