The Democrat, now closing in on his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, has deployed a careful strategy of downplaying some associations with the liberal wing of his party
“She’s brilliant. She cares about the environment,” read the tweet. It also said: “She’s exactly who we need in Congress right now fighting for what’s right.”
Nearly three years later, Barnes, 35, is distancing himself from Omar and some polarizing ideas he has associated himself with as he closes in on the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in a marquee battleground. The contest holds the potential to decide control of the upper chamber of Congress in November.
“A staff person tweeted that out,” Barnes said in an interview with The Washington Post last week, speaking of the August 2019 tweet about Omar. “That wasn’t even my Twitter, that was the official side Twitter.”
The comment is part of Barnes’s careful strategy as he looks to a potential showdown against Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. This past week, three of Barnes’s Democratic competitors left the race and endorsed him, giving him a clear path to the nomination in the Aug. 9 primary.
As he runs in one of the country’s most closely contested states, Barnes has faced Republican attacks for the appearance with Omar, for once holding up a T-shirt with the phrase “Abolish ICE,” for saying he supports moving funds from police departments to community programs, and, in a speech referring to slavery and colonization, describing the founding of the country as “awful.”
Even as Barnes has sought to clarify himself in all of those instances, some Democrats have privately voiced worries that they could cause problems for him this fall. Quelling those apprehensions has been an important task in the primary, close observers said.
“Barnes understands the concern that he couldn’t win a general election. So in some ways, he has to run his primary in a way that dispels those concerns,” said David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Barack Obama. “It’s a parable about the challenges of running as a progressive in a swing state and what that requires.”
Barnes has also showed strength in his party, consolidating support in a crowded race with a message underscoring a commitment to working-class voters. In rapid succession, Barnes’s three main competitors — businessman Alex Lasry, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski — each withdrew over the past week and endorsed him.
After making history by becoming the first Black lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, Barnes would be the state’s first Black senator if elected this fall. He has won the support of leading figures on the left, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). He is also backed by more moderate Democrats, such as Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.).
Like some other Democratic candidates who rose to prominence during the Trump administration, a period of impassioned and confrontational political activism on the left, Barnes’s past associations have come under the spotlight at a moment when many party strategists see a more moderate path as a better blueprint for electoral success in the…
Read More: In Wisconsin, Democrat Mandela Barnes reckons with liberal past as he looks to November
