A flood of television advertising by Mr. Johnson, perhaps the Senate’s most vulnerable Republican, has strengthened his position against Mr. Barnes, the lieutenant governor.
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This article is part of our Midterms 2022 Daily Briefing
Senator Ron Johnson; Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in his chamber.
He represents a battleground state, has the lowest approval ratings among sitting Republican senators, and has emerged as the central boogeyman for Wisconsin Democrats, who are enraged by his penchant for amplifying misinformation about the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the coronavirus pandemic.
And yet Mr. Johnson’s campaign has been ascendant in recent weeks.
An onslaught of television advertising has wounded his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. Mr. Johnson has painted Mr. Barnes as soft on crime, an accusation that has driven down Mr. Barnes’s polling and left the two in a neck-and-neck race.
The two candidates will meet Friday in the first of two scheduled debates. Mr. Johnson initially requested three, while Mr. Barnes agreed to just one, before their campaigns reached a compromise. The debate will be held at 7 p.m. Central time (8 p.m. Eastern).
A dozen years of pitched partisan polarization have left few truly undecided voters in Wisconsin, so the candidates are aiming their campaigns at motivating their supporters to vote.
Mr. Barnes has shifted this week to attacking Mr. Johnson on his opposition to abortion rights, while Mr. Johnson has spent weeks focusing on crime and inflation.
Source: nytimes.com
