Mandela Barnes Refuses to Campaign with Joe Biden in Home State Wisconsin

Wisconsin Senate candidate Mandela Barnes (D) refused to campaign with President Joe Biden at Milwaukee’s Laborfest campaign event on Labor Day.

Barnes’ refusal to be publicly seen with Biden at the presidential campaign event is likely because Biden is deeply unpopular in Wisconsin. Only 41 percent approve of Biden in the Badger State, while 53 percent disapprove, a Civiqs poll found.

Barnes told WITI he skipped campaigning with Biden because he wanted to be elsewhere in the state. “The Lt. Governor appreciates the President coming to Wisconsin to honor the labor movement in our state. Mandela walked in the Milwaukee parade and then went to support Wisconsin workers at events across the state, including in Racine where UAW Local 180 has been on strike for over 100 days.”

During his visit, Biden spoke about the strength of the economy, even though Civiqs polling shows 69 percent of voters believe Biden’s economy is fairly bad or very bad. According to a Quinnipiac poll, less than one percent of adult Americans say the economy is in “excellent” shape.

Twenty percent say it is “good” shape, and 79 percent say it is “not so good” to “poor.”

Wisconsin Lieutenant Gov. Mandela Barnes (D), the presumptive Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, spent nearly $600,000 on his police detail over two years, despite being backed by pro-“defund the police” PACs. https://t.co/bFS3acYzXF

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 5, 2022

“Wages are up, unemployment remains near a 50-year low and the big reason for all of this is the American Rescue Plan that I signed into law shortly after taking office,” Biden claimed at the event.

“This is one of the biggest Labor Day events in America you all have here,” said Biden. “It’s a special day to me, as well.”

Barnes, who serves as the Democrat lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, is campaigning against Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). Barnes is mounting a challenge to Johnson in Wisconsin, where Biden in 2020 by less than one point over former President Donald Trump. Polling indicates Barnes has a slight 2 point lead over Johnson, a gap that has been closing in recent weeks.

Bares is one of the most far-left candidates running for office this cycle. Barnes’ has objected to felons losing the right to vote and has supported the Green New Deal. He has also advocated for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), permitting driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, giving in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants, and defunding “over-bloated” police departments. He favors an entirely government-run healthcare system, canceling the Senate filibuster, and packing the Supreme Court.

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