U.S. Sen. Cory Booker headlines Mandela Barnes rally in Milwaukee 2 days before televised U.S. Senate primary debate
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Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes hopes to join Cory Booker in the Senate by winning Wisconsin's Democratic primary in August and defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in the November election.
But first, he took the senator back to school.
Booker, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, headlined a Barnes campaign event Friday at John Marshall High School on the city's northwest side. The event had originally been scheduled at Estabrook Beer Garden, but rain moved it inside.
Not a problem for Barnes, who got to emphasize his working roots from inside the gym of his alma mater.
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"He's lived that experience," Booker told the crowd. "He knows what it is to be in a neighborhood that's marginalized. He knows what it is to be looked down upon."
The visit came just two days before the primary's first televised debate on Sunday, though the names of Barnes' major rivals — Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson — were not raised.
Booker backed Barnes in January when he was widely seen as the primary's frontrunner. A recent Marquette poll showed a tight race between Barnes and Lasry.
Booker leaned heavily into the lieutenant governor's status as the race's designated non-millionaire, arguing that his upbringing would result in more working class-centered policies in Congress. Lasry, Godlewski and Johnson all bring significant personal wealth to their candidacies.
More: Wisconsin U.S. Senate election updates: Ron Johnson raised more than $7 million in second quarter
The senator also evoked the names of colleagues with unique backgrounds, including Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, the country's first Asian American woman senator and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., the first senator born to Mexican immigrants.
"Mandela is cut from the same cloth," said Booker, who is the first Black senator from New Jersey. "He is one of those people that when they walk into the Senate, we instantly change the game."
More: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin U.S. Senate race
Barnes would be his state's first Black senator if elected. Booker is one of three Black senators in the Senate along with Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Raphael Warnock, D-GA.
The similarities between Barnes and Booker don't end there, however. Both are tall, and young — Barnes is 35, and Booker was 44 when he became senator. And both have shaven heads.
"Why are there so many bald guys running for Senate?" the senator quipped.
The senator last came to town in 2019 to draw support for his bid for the Democratic nomination for president. Booker landed an endorsement from then-state Rep. David Crowley but suspended his campaign before the party's first contest in Iowa.
In a statement, state RNC spokesperson Rachel Reisner made a dig at Booker's long-held commitment to veganism and failed presidential bid.
"Mandela Barnes has chosen to campaign with a guy who won’t even touch a plate of Wisconsin’s beloved cheese curds — at this rate, Barnes’ campaign may end up a bigger failure than Cory Booker’s disastrous 2020 presidential run.”
Several voters at the event were quick to name frustration with Johnson as a driving factor for their votes. But Booker avoided direct attacks at his Senate colleague, preaching a message of "love and hope" rather than negativity.
"Americans are tired of people that are just disrespectful," Booker said. "This is a gentleman. This is somebody that knows that the way you rise is not by pushing other people down but by telling your truth every single day."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Senator Cory Booker campaigns for Mandela Barnes in Milwaukee
