Name: Wisconsin’s Rising Democratic Star Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes Is Scared
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Wisconsin’s Rising Democratic Star Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes Is Scared

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×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×AdvertisementAdvertisementI saw you tweeting on election night and saying that there was a lot more work to be done. And to start this off, I wanted to get a sense of what that work is?Advertisement“A lot of people sat on the fence because they thought he may be racist. And then he started doing a whole bunch of racist stuff in office, and all of a sudden he got 10 million more votes. And that’s a scary thing for me. It’s a scary thing for a lot of people and a scary thing for democracy as well.”- Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D)AdvertisementThere was a lot more outreach and investment in Milwaukee and particularly in Black and Latino communities in Milwaukee this cycle than in 2016. How do you explain that turnout was either stagnant or down in those communities this time still?There seemed to to do outreach and advertising this cycle.Well, so tell me why. Why do you think the Republican vote consolidated so much in rural areas?AdvertisementI did also then want to ask about down-ballot. With all of the fundraising from the Wisconsin Democratic Party, with all of that infrastructure in place, having Democrats in the governor’s office, how are Democrats supposed to make inroads down the ballot?AdvertisementWhat messaging isn’t happening? I understand what you’re saying that these districts aren’t unreachable, the tide is slowly changing, but you have these huge elections where the stakes are really high — the census is this year. So what wasn’t happening?“Folks who don’t want to deal with issues of racial injustice, they want to separate themselves from what they feel is a radical movement on the left. ... If you are moving in the direction that your Republican opponent is already in, who’s going to take you seriously?”- Mandela BarnesAdvertisementWhat is being bold on bread-and-butter issues like health care, and what is not?You seem to be referring to the , where some members have said, don’t say “defund the police,” don’t run a Green New Deal, don’t say Medicare for All.AdvertisementOK, so you are talking about that fight. What do you think about the issues people ran on in this election cycle? Is running on a public option bold enough to get people’s attention?“People want to fight for more. I think that people would want to fight for ‘Medicare for All,’ or as close to a universal health care system as possible.”- Mandela BarnesSo you’ve come out of this election thinking the margins were tighter because Democrats didn’t go big enough?AdvertisementThen how does that square with you saying that you can go into these rural districts and make inroads down the ballot?AdvertisementSo do you see them locked in or not locked in? That’s what I’m trying to clarify.Democrats raised around $35 million more than Republicans in Wisconsin. Do you think the party should think differently about how it spends money?I want to hear those things.So what is the path to returning to Obama margins then, specifically?Other than having Obama on the ticket.Obviously, Hillary Clinton being uniquely unpopular had a big impact. Biden being popular had a big impact. All of that stuff matters, but other than that―AdvertisementAnd Democrats don’t have that anymore?What do you mean by like Democrats knew who they were in 2008 compared to now?Suggest a correctionNewsletter Sign UpHuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox.Successfully Subscribed!Realness delivered to your inbox

×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×AdvertisementAdvertisementI saw you tweeting on election night and saying that there was a lot more work to be done. And to start this off, I wanted to get a sense of what that work is?Advertisement“A lot of people sat on the fence because they thought he may be racist. And then he started doing a whole bunch of racist stuff in office, and all of a sudden he got 10 million more votes. And that’s a scary thing for me. It’s a scary thing for a lot of people and a scary thing for democracy as well.”- Wisconsin...

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Tara Golshan

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Wisconsin’s Rising Democratic Star Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes Is Scared

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