Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes spoke to a gathering of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee this week. The incumbent Lt. Governor spoke about his background and what motivated him to run for office. Barnes was critical of his opponent U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Oshkosh) for his record while in office. Barnes pointed to tax breaks Johnson pushed that benefited some of his donors, as well as Johnson’s support for raising the retirement age and including Social Security and Medicare in the discretionary budget as reasons the two-term senator should not be re-elected. “We’re talking about a senator whose had 12 years to work for working people, but has turned his back every single time,” Barnes said. Barnes also claimed Johnson would “stoop to disgusting lows” to win re-election.
In response to Barnes’ remarks at the luncheon, Johnson campaign spokesman Ben Voelkel said Barnes is “an extreme partisan and career politician who has nothing to run on but personal insults and attacks on Ron’s family.” Voelkel added that Barnes “should take a look in the mirror if he wants to know about disgusting lows.”
Watch the speech here
