CNN
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Wisconsin Republican Senator. Ron Johnson will win the election, CNN projectbeat Mandela Barnes in what Democrats see as one of their best odds in the midterm elections.
The victory is yet another demonstration of the remarkable political endurance of Johnson, 67, who has now won three tough elections in a row, despite polls that have long shown him among the top leaders. least favorite congressman for re-election this year.
In keeping Barnes – who Democrats watched early in this year’s election cycle as a potential rising star – Johnson has also bolstered the GOP’s hopes of taking control of the Senate.
Throughout the summer and fall, the Republican Party doesn’t stop focus their attacks on Barnes for the crime.
The attacks focused on Barnes’ effort as a state legislator to end cash bail, as well as a 2020 interview with PBS Wisconsin – weeks after police killed George Floyd in neighboring Minnesota – in which Barnes suggestions that funding should be diverted from the police budget to other social services.
GOP arrested Darrell Brooks’ trialThe man was found guilty of six counts of willful first-degree murder in late October for driving his SUV into a crowd of people attending the Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, last November, causing Six people were killed and dozens more were injured.
Brooks was given $1,000 cash bail for committing the murders. Barnes served as a key proponent of bail reform as a state legislator. But he argued that his measure would put potentially violent offenders like Brooks in jail.
Barnes’ slim lead in opinion polls collapsed in September, when Republicans spent nearly $6 million more than Democrats criticizing Barnes, mostly on crime. By October, one CNN poll conducted by SSRS did not find a clear leader in the race.
Barnes, governor of Wisconsin, meanwhile, focused on Johnson’s role in the events surrounding the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Johnson, who played a role in trying to promote “fake voters” for then-President Donald Trump, before starting congressional certification of the 2020 electoral votes, repeatedly downplayed the attack on the Capitol, speech it was not an “armed uprising”, even as recently as October.
Johnson’s campaign kept its schedule limited and rarely advised reporters on events. Instead, he has campaigned primarily through appearances on Fox News, such as an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show in October in which he said, “My fundraising is weak. than. I rely on your audience. ”
The commentary underscored the realities of Wisconsin politics after more than a decade of bruising political campaigning: There are few manageable voters left in the state, and both parties are focused primarily on finding the base. own.
