Sarah Godlewski suspends Wisconsin Senate campaign, endorses Barnes

Wisconsin Democrat Sarah Godlewski suspended her primary campaign for Senate and endorsed Mandela Barnes on Friday, paving the way for Barnes to clinch the nomination in a state that represents one of the best pickup opportunities for Democrats this November.

“To so many of our supporters across Wisconsin who encouraged me to stay in this fight: I want you to know I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be on the campaign trail supporting Mandela, [Gov. Tony Evers], and all the Democrats on the ballot this November,” Godlewski said in a statement announcing the end of her candidacy.

Godlewski, who has served as state treasurer since 2019, is the third Wisconsin Democrat to announce the end of their primary Senate campaign this week and was the only active candidate remaining other than Barnes.

Barnes accepted the presumptive nomination on Friday, writing in a statement that “I am honored to accept Treasurer Godlewski’s endorsement in this critical race. Throughout this campaign, Sarah has been a leader in the fight to protect abortion access and a tireless advocate for working people and rural communities across Wisconsin.”

“We are in a stronger position than we have ever been to defeat Ron Johnson once and for all. And it’s because this is bigger than any one of us,” he said. “This is about retiring a Senator who has left working people in the dust for more than a decade while he doubled his own personal wealth and delivered for his wealthy donors.”

Godlewski’s departure and subsequent endorsement consolidates Democratic support behind Barnes, who is now set to face incumbent GOP Sen. Ron Johnson in November. A Trump loyalist, Johnson’s office was involved in the effort to arrange a handoff of fake Wisconsin electors to help overturn the 2020 election.

Johnson responded to the announcement on social media, taking aim at Godlewski and Barnes.

“Socialist policies have produced this mess, & a radical left Senator from Wisconsin is not the solution,” Johnson wrote in a statement responding to the departure of Godlewski. He also said her enforcement of Barnes amounted to the “power brokers” within the Democratic party narrowing the field to bolster the “most radical left candidate” their party had to offer.

Barnes, in turn, responded that “I won’t be lectured about respecting voters by a pro-insurrectionist Senator."