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Favorite in Wisconsin Democratic Senate primary calls in the big guns amid slide

Favorite in Wisconsin Democratic Senate primary calls in the big guns amid slide

Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes entered the Wisconsin Democratic Senate primary with all the makings of an automatic front-runner: statewide name recognition, a national profile, big endorsements and a cushy lead in early polling.

Then a multimillionaire opponent plowed more than $5 million into a flood of TV ads — all while Barnes was dark.

Now, with less than three months to Wisconsin’s primary, Barnes is nowhere near pulling away in the four-person field of Democrats. Instead, a 10-point lead earlier this year dropped to a 3-point lead, as two of his opponents inched upward. One of them, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, who is partially self-funding his campaign, is now in a statistical tie with Barnes after spending $8 million in the contest already.

It all culminated this week in a burst of activity as Barnes and his allies moved to reignite the star power that once made the only Black candidate in the field the early favorite to face Republican incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson in a fall contest that could tip the balance in the Senate.

Barnes has aired his first TV ad, a $500,000 spend, according to Ad Analytics, a TV ad tracking firm. Earlier this week, the progressive organization MoveOn announced it was backing Barnes and would follow that with an investment in the state. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is expected to campaign for Barnes on Friday with a major rally in Madison then a visit to Milwaukee — the first high-profile visit to date in the race.

“In my view, this is the kickoff of the Barnes campaign,” said Charles Franklin, the chief pollster of the Marquette Law School Poll, which has conducted early surveys of the race. “Barnes doesn’t have the option of making personal loans to the campaign. So I think they’ve been husbanding their donations.”

There is plenty of time for the field to shift and candidates to catch fire before the Aug. 9 primary, including Barnes, who could see his numbers rise now that he’s on TV. Still, the dynamics…

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