I'm Mandela Barnes: This is why I want Wisconsin's vote in the midterm election

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Unlike many in Congress, I don’t come from a wealthy or well-connected family. I’m the son of a third-shift auto worker and a public school teacher whose jobs were our ticket into the middle class. 

That’s why I know what it’s like for families to struggle to pay the bills and worry how they’ll make ends meet—a struggle too many in Wisconsin and across the country understand today. It’s getting harder and harder for people to get ahead, no matter how hard they work.

And that’s in no small part because the rich and powerful have rewritten the rules to enrich themselves and their donors at the expense of working-class Americans.

That includes out-of-touch multi-millionaire Ron Johnson—a self-serving politician who has continually turned his back on the hardworking people of Wisconsin. 

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Democratic Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, his party's nominee for U.S. senate, greets guests during a campaign event at The Wicked Hop on August 07, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

You don’t have to look too hard to see that Johnson has repeatedly voted against Wisconsinites from every zip code and every background—whether that’s our educators and first responders, construction workers and restaurant servers, or farmers and Main Street business owners.

Over his two terms in the U.S. Senate, Johnson has used his office to line the pockets of his wealthiest donors and himself, including pushing through tax breaks to the tune of millions that flowed to the wealthiest Americans. He’s also found time to use hard-earned taxpayer dollars to fly between D.C. and his family’s $3 million dollar vacation home in Florida. 

He thinks his wealthiest donors deserve millions in tax breaks, but that you don’t deserve the Social Security benefits you’ve paid into all your life. Not only did he vote to raise the retirement age to 70, he actually said that he wanted to "coax" seniors out of retirement altogether. Now, he’s proposing turning Medicare and Social Security into discretionary spending, jeopardizing the lifesaving programs that people like my mother and father rely on.

Democratic candidate for U.S. senate in Wisconsin Mandela Barnes is greeted as he arrives for a campaign rally at the Washington Park Senior Center on September 24, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Barnes currently serves as the state's lieutenant governor.  ((Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images))

Ron Johnson also loves to point fingers about inflation, but if you look at his record in Congress, it’s clear that he won’t lift a finger to help lower costs. Just a month ago he voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, which will help reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and lower home energy bills. He even voted against sending checks to millions of Wisconsinites struggling to get by during the worst of the pandemic and against expanding Child Tax Credit payments so families with young kids could keep food on the table.

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His betrayal doesn’t stop there. Johnson has a long history of arguing in favor of outsourcing and failing to stand up for Wisconsin jobs. He’s even personally benefited as executives and companies that have outsourced jobs that have funneled contributions to his campaigns. He even said he wouldn’t fight to keep 1,000 good-paying jobs in Wisconsin when Oshkosh Corp announced it was sending jobs to South Carolina—no doubt because its owners have helped fund his political career.

He led the GOP’s charge to strip millions of Americans of their access to affordable health care and voted against letting Medicare negotiate drug costs, even helping his fellow Republicans block Congress from capping insulin costs. Johnson thinks health care is a "privilege," and has taken no issue with raking in over $1 million from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

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Lt. Gov. of Wisconsin and democratic candidate for US senate, Mandela Barnes, speaks to supporters at a rally outside of the Wisconsin State Capital building on Saturday July 23, 2022. (Photo by Sara Stathas for the Washington Post) ((Photo by Sara Stathas for the Washington Post))

He’s also joined his fellow Republicans in attempting to ban abortion nationwide. In fact, he backed legislation that would outlaw abortion without exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the woman and co-sponsored bills that would have threatened doctors who provide them with jail time. He even had the audacity to say that if women don’t like the laws in their state they "can move."

Wisconsin deserves better than the broken promises and bad policies that Ron Johnson has offered over his last twelve years in office. If we want to change Washington, we have to start changing the people we send there. 

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As Wisconsin’s next senator, I’ll always side with working people over big corporations. I’ll safeguard the hard-earned benefits that seniors rely on. I’ll ensure the wealthy finally pay their fair share while working to lower costs for working families. I’ll fight to not only keep jobs in Wisconsin, but to create good-paying union jobs in every corner of the state. I’ll protect reproductive freedoms and bodily autonomy, so that health care decisions stay between a woman and her doctor.

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I’ll be the working-class champion that Wisconsinites deserve—and, unlike Ron Johnson, I’ll never turn my back on the people I serve.

CLICK HERE TO READ AN OPED FROM THE AUTHOR'S OPPONENT: I'M RON JOHNSON, THIS IS WHY I WANT WISCONSIN'S VOTE IN THE MIDTERM ELECTION