Ron Johnson Narrowly Defeats Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin Senate Race, Putting GOP Closer to Senate Majority

Mar. 15, 2025

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson has won his bid for reelection in a close race that could help determine which party ultimately controls the Senate.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes had hoped to unseat Johnson, who is one of the least popular GOP congressman (his favorability rating sat around 37% in June).

The two were starkly different.

Barnes, 35, is a Black native of Milwaukee with a middle-class background who was first elected to state legislature at 25 years old. Johnson, 67, is a Minnesota native and a multimillionaire from his former job as the CEO of a polyester and plastics manufacturing company.

Former PresidentBarack Obamaendorsed Barnes, makingan ad supporting the lieutenant governorand appearing with Barnes in Milwaukee in an effort to energize voters.

Johnson has courted controversy in recent years for, among other things, making an appearance at aJuneteenthcelebration in Milwaukee — one year after he had blocked legislation to make the day a federal holiday.

Ron Johnson, Mandela Barnes.STR/NurPhoto via Getty; Sara Stathas for the Washington Post/Getty

Later, he claimed — to boos from a debate audience — that he had been set up.

“The FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me,” Johnson said toaudience jeers in October.

“Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote,” Johnsonsaidon the conservative talk radioJoe Pags Showin 2021, “I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn’t concerned.”

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Johnson was elected in 2010 and reelected in 2016, issuing a pledge that same year that he would retire after two terms. In January 2022, he changed his mind, announcinghe would run for a third term.

source: people.com