Mandela Barnes
By Milwaukee Courier Staff
In 2022, Mandela Barnes had his shot.
He was our Lieutenant Governor. He had every advantage. The primary field cleared for him to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. And still—he lost. By just over 26,000 votes. That alone might be forgivable.
But let’s not forget the part that too many gloss over: he ran 50,000 votes behind Governor Tony Evers in that same election. In Milwaukee County—where Mandela is from—he still ran behind Evers.
That’s the hard truth: even here, he couldn’t finish the deal.
Now, we’re hearing that Mandela is preparing to run for Governor in 2026. With Donald Trump back in the White House, rolling back civil rights and gutting everything we care about, we cannot afford a risk. Not now. Not with the stakes this high.
Let’s be clear: this is not personal. Mandela’s story is one of promise. He’s bright. He’s passionate. But this moment is not about promise—it’s about performance.
In politics, you earn your next opportunity by delivering on the last one. And in 2022, Mandela didn’t. That Senate seat was ours to win. He had the national support. He had the resources. He had the attention. And still—he came up short.
And what’s more telling: instead of spending the past two years organizing here at home, building bridges, and proving he learned from that loss, what we’ve seen is a campaign-in-waiting with no clear rationale other than a desire to try again.
That’s not enough.
So who’s asking for Mandela to run again? It’s not the people here in Milwaukee. It’s national Democratic donors and operatives in Washington and New York trying to rerun the same experiment. They should not assume that Mandela Barnes has a lock on Black Milwaukee. Because he doesn’t. Many of us watched that 2022 race and felt something we don’t often say aloud: disappointment. We turned out—but not for him. We turned out for Evers. We turned out because we understood the stakes.
We still do.
With Trump back in power, this is an emergency moment. Wisconsin is the firewall. If we lose the Governor’s Office in 2026, there’s no check on what Trump and the Republican legislature will do. No backstop for abortion rights, voting access, or public schools. This is bigger than any one politician’s ambitions.
We don’t need a comeback. What we need is someone who can expand the map, not shrink it. We need a win.
Mandela had his opportunity. He didn’t close. And that means it’s time for a new chapter. A messy 2026 primary is a gift to the GOP—and a risk we simply can’t afford. We can’t waste energy on that.
We need a candidate who can unite this state—and win. Mandela Barnes already showed us he can’t.
Respectfully, Mandela: Don’t Run.