Mandela Barnes has never had time to waste. The son of a schoolteacher and a UAW night shift worker, his social activism began right out of college when he began working as a community organizer.

By age 27, he was serving as a Representative in the Wisconsin state legislature.

By age 31, he was elected Lt. Governor as Tony Evers’ running mate.

Evers named Barnes to head the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change pandemic, but when COVID appeared he travelled exhaustively throughout his state, encouraging people to get vaccinated.

In 2020, in the wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings, opponents seeking to recall Barnes and Gov. Tony Evers failed to secure the number of signatures needed to place the issue on the ballot.

An August 27 poll has Barnes leading incumbent G.O.P. Senator Ron Johnson 49%- 47%, within the margin of error to make the race a dead heat.

Barnes, whose campaign accepts no PAC money, has raised more then $1.3 million, mostly from small donations.

Johnson, who has previously pledged that he would only serve two terms, is running for a third term. The senator has a long string of controversial remarks to his credit, most notably suggesting that “wokeness” and critical race theory were the cause of recent mass shootings in the U.S. Some of Johnson’s other quotes:

“It’s not law-abiding gun owners that are the problem – it’s Islamic terrorists.”

“I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change.”

“I think justice Scalia is really the gold standard of what a justice should be.”

“I’d be supportive of a minimum wage…for guest workers, so we’re not creating incentives to bring in immigrants.”

There are fewer clear-cut choices presented for statewide office than the one facing Wisconsin voters in November.

Learn more about Mandela: Campaign web site

Learn more about this race: Ballotpedia