Photo by Tom Jenz
Mandela Barnes
Mandela Barnes
Mandela Barnes, the Milwaukee politician and activist, narrowly lost his bid for U.S. Senator in 2022, but that setback has not slowed him down. He has always been in a hurry. Starting in 2012 when he was 25, he served in the State Assembly for four years, representing District 11 on Milwaukee’s North Side. In 2018, Barnes was elected as Wisconsin’s first Black lieutenant governor before stepping on to the national scene for his Senate bid.
Barnes was born and raised on 26th and Locust in the heart of Milwaukee. His mother is a retired public school teacher. His father is a retired factory worker at a General Motors subsidiary. Both parents were very active union members throughout his life. In 2003, he graduated from John Marshall High School.
In 2008, after he finished school at the historically Black university, Alabama A&M, he worked in rural Louisiana for the Obama Presidential campaign as a field organizer. After the election, he moved home, became the receptionist in Mayor Tom Barrett’s office, and then returned to organizing with various nonprofits including MICAH (Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope). Twelve political years later, he was running for U.S. Senator.
I met Mandela at a Fifth Ward coffee shop. He had shed his running-for-office dress suit and wore a gray sweatshirt and a baseball cap. One thing I always liked about Mandela is that he comes across as an ordinary guy, although he is anything but ordinary.
It’s been about six months since you narrowly lost the Wisconsin Senate election. How have you been doing since then?
I took some time to rest and recover, and then got right back into the work. I tell people just because your candidate loses it doesn’t mean the issues go away, or that you should give up. In some ways, this defeat has motivated me to show up in ways I haven’t shown up before.
And you definitely are showing up. Currently, you are heading up two organizations that encourage voter turnout. Power to the Polls and the Long Run PAC. Let’s start with Power to the Polls where you are the president. Describe the goals and achievements of that organization.
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Power to the Polls is an organization dedicated to boosting turnout in Black, brown, and working-class communities. But beyond motivating voter turnout, we want to keep this civic involvement going year-round. We organize around the important issues and make sure citizens know what their elected officials are doing. We look at voting trends and patterns, and public opinion. We’ve found that what seems to be apathy turns out to be that some citizens believe no one is looking out for them. So we let the public know what their representatives have been up to, what they are advocating for or not advocating for.
I understand that during the most recent spring election, Power to the Polls invested nearly $1 million, and the canvassers knocked on more than 85,000 doors in Milwaukee, Racine, Green Bay, Appleton, Brown, and Outagamie Counties.
Yes, we engaged people the old-fashioned way by knocking on doors, running digital and radio ads, and showing up in their mailbox. We were involved in two critical mayor races—Green Bay and Racine. They both won their races. We also were able to help increase voter turnout in the city of Milwaukee by 64% compared to the previous off-year supreme court election.
In the 2022 fall elections, I know the Milwaukee Black community activists made a huge effort to get their inner-city residents to get out and vote.
We all have a responsibility to get the vote out because our voices are our power. That’s the theory behind Power to the Polls. If people are frustrated with their representatives, they can vote them out if they don’t have their best interests. Elected officials have to show up, interact with their constituents. Showing up is a crucial responsibility for a representative.
How is Power to the Polls funded? A million dollars is a lot of money.
Power to the Polls is comprised of community groups, labor organizations, and faith-based organizations as well. These types of organizations are investing in not just voter turnout but also in civic engagement. Power to the Polls is a new organization, but many of our supporters are seeing that it works.
Do you choose certain political candidates to support?
We try to find candidates who are fighting for democracy itself, and who support a better quality of life for everyone. Equality, in other words. In the last election, four out of five candidates that we supported in state races won.
Besides Power to the Polls, you are the founder and head of the Long Run PAC. What does the Long Run do?
After I lost the Senate election last November, I tried to figure out how to keep the momentum going. We wanted our base of support to be engaged even if it’s not me on the ballot. That’s why I started the Long Run to keep our supporters involved in what we stand for. The Long Run is supported by grassroots donors like those who contributed to my Senate campaign.
The purpose of a PAC is to raise money to help support candidates, financially or otherwise. The Long Run hopes to provide support with technical assistance, find good staff members, and also give general advice.
By the way, did you have any campaign funds left over from your Senate campaign? If so, how is that money allocated?
We spent most of our campaign money, but The Long Run PAC was formed from flipping my campaign committee. It would have been a dereliction of duty if there was a ton of money left. (laughing) I’d be persona non grata around here.
I’ve read that the Long Run PAC focuses on candidate diversity—young candidates, candidates of color, LGBTQ+ candidates—and candidates from working class backgrounds. How are you going about those goals?
We want to keep these goals as broad as possible because candidate diversity can be different depending on where you live. The problem with American politics is that so many citizens get left behind because people that are “different” feel discouraged about seeking office. People who have their feet on the ground should have a seat at the table, those closest to the residents they represent. We encourage them to run for office.
Do you recruit some of these diverse candidates?
No, we don’t recruit candidates, but we take recommendations. If you are running for office and want support from the Long Run PAC, you can visit our website and apply. Soon, we will be announcing candidates we will endorse for the 2024 election.
In your efforts to reach out to voters, you said, and I quote, “… we are breaking the mold of what leadership looks like.” How are you breaking the mold of what leadership looks like?
Take my own background. I grew up in the inner city, and with a working-class background. We don’t have enough working class elected officials in our system. That’s because the working-class residents don’t have enough financial resources to run for office. This is true of the overwhelming majority of Americans. Breaking the mold means taking a different approach.
As for different approaches, I think younger adult Americans are getting more involved in the election process.
In the November election, Wisconsin had the highest youth turnout in the country, close to 50% That shows that young people are taking control of their future. I’m trying to make politics tangible for all people.
Crime is a big issue in Milwaukee and other old industrial cities like Detroit, Chicago and St Louis. Milwaukee’s Black community deals with violence on a day-to-day basis. You once told me, “When violence becomes what people expect, it only gets worse with each generation.” What do you mean by that?
It all goes back to either an abundance of opportunity or a lack of opportunity. Those cities you named were once big industrial areas that offered good manufacturing jobs, a good life for families. People had a fair shot at the American dream. There weren’t high rates of crime. Then, these big American manufacturers moved the jobs overseas. When those job opportunities slowly went away, people were left with very little. In some cities, there were desperate situations. It got worse when nobody stepped in to stop the bleeding. There was the loss of good jobs, quality education, healthcare, things that families need to be successful. Violence can be the result.
Let’s talk about another major issue filtering the country. Racism. Do you think we can ever get past this racial divide toward one another? The mainstream media fuels racism, and social media fuels it further. White suburbanites are afraid to enter the urban Black neighborhoods. Black citizens are afraid to drive suburban streets. Is it possible to have respect and understanding for one another’s race and culture?
Racial hatred does exist, but I don’t think it’s as broad as it once was. But too often, in our politics, we see that sort of animosity being rewarded. Political hostility and rhetoric that used to be frowned upon is given a pass. But on the whole, I do think Americans are inclined to engage with each other and build communities. Unfortunately, it’s the louder voices that get the attention on how we should not interact with one another based on your skin color or your background. I do think there’s a way our differences can be handled. It has to be where both sides come in neutral.
Can we ever overcome hate, keep disagreements on a respectful level? Get along despite our differences?
I think we can, and we should. Yet, there are those who benefit politically and make a career out of divisiveness—gender, race, origin, religion, all these things. Part of this goes back to money in politics, people using inflammatory rhetoric to be successful. If the financial incentive is there to keep the flame going, then that will serve to discourage efforts to achieve a more peaceful society.
If the different leaders all come in on neutral ground and say “I’m gonna listen to you, and you listen to me,” does that make sense?
I think so. It’s like any sort of relationship. If you show up ready for war, it’s gonna end in war. You can go into that relationship recognizing that, if we are all gonna exist in this space together regardless, we should try to make the best of it, especially if the end game for each side is safer communities, safer streets and more opportunities.
What does the future look like for Mandela Barnes? Running for office again? Perhaps for governor?
Running for office again? It’s not a “No.” The door is definitely open.
