MILWAUKEE – For the second time in two weeks, the two candidates for a pivotal U.S. Senate seat from Wisconsin met for a debate.
Incumbent senator Ron Johnson and challenger Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes fielded questions from the TMJ4’s Charles Benson and Shannon Sims at Marquette University Thursday. While the questions were in many cases similar to the one they encountered on October 7th, there was more audience interaction and back-and-forth between Barnes and Johnson in this debate.
WTMJ’s Jason Smith was at the debate, and captured several of these moments:
Barnes early on also took a shot at Johnson’s feel-good story about building a business from the ground up.
“The biggest achievement in business was Ron Johnson saying ‘I do'” Barnes said early on in the debate. “He married into his business. He didn’t start that from the ground up”.
Combating inflation was a major topic early on, which Johnson said is tied to reducing federal spending and Barnes linked to cutting cost for working families. Barnes also wanted the federal government to take a bigger role in raising the minimum wage, which Johnson said needed to be left to the states.
Another topic Johnson is on record as saying is a states issue is abortion. He reiterated that the matter is best solved with a singular vote.
“I can’t think of a better way of solving this problem once and for all where most people would accept the results,” Johnson said before criticizing Barnes’s stance on the issue.
As the debate ended, the abortion topic sparked a chant of “Our bodies, Our choice” by members of the audience.
This was the final debate between Barnes and Johnson ahead of the November 8th election. Friday is the first and only gubernatorial debate between Governor Tony Evers and challenger Tim Michels. Our coverage will begin at 6pm with the Decision Wisconsin Preview Show.
