The Wisconsin Senate Race: Ron Johnson Will Run Again Despite Limiting Himself To Two Terms

Johnson announced he was running again yesterday, from what I can tell, in a Wall Street Journal editorial.  But WSJ is pay-walled.   

I realized that the only thing I really knew about the Wisconsin Senate race this year is that Republican Senator Ron Johnson has:

". . . been a major disappointment since his re-election in 2016," said James Wigderson, former editor the RightWisconsin website who supported Johnson in 2010 and 2016. "Conservatives of good conscience should recognize that Johnson's conspiracy theories, his support for quack medicine, and his active support for undermining our democratic elections should disqualify Johnson from ever serving in public office again." [from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

He's been one of Trump's strongest supporters in the Senate.  He was one of seven GOP Senators and one Representative who made the infamous July 2018 trip to Moscow    

I wanted to know who was running against him.  Ballotopedia lists all those that have officially registered (Johnson isn't on their list yet.)  The show twelve Democrats running.  I'm going to highlight four and hope I'm not overlooking one I should be covering.  

The four top Democrats, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article are an interesting group.  Actually Barnes appears to be the front runner and the other three aren't much ahead of the rest of the pack. 

1.  Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes  born 1986 (35)

Photo Ballotopedia

Barnes is a Milwaukee native and leading the field in early polling. He's been a member of the Wisconsin state assembly, lost a state senate race, and then came back to win the Lt. Governor position.

You can learn a lot more about him in this Jewish Insider piece.  I've found their profiles on this race to be in depth and wide ranging.  And there all very recent.

2.  Alex Lasky  - born 1984 (37)

Alex's father immigrated to the US and Morocco and became a hedge fund billionaire and is part owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and a big Democratic fundraiser, which might be one reason Alex landed a job in the Obama White House.  Alex moved from New York to Milwaukee to be senior vice president of the Bucks.  Another assist from his dad.   You might have guessed that his fundraising is doing well.  And one of the campaign videos I saw made him look really good.   But he also feels a lot like a Democratic Dan Sullivan - not necessarily on the issues, but in how he's moved to a new state, in this case to run his father's basketball team, and now is running for US Senate.  Here's the JI profile.

3.  Sarah Godlewski - Wisconsin State Treasurer - born 1981 (40)

Sarah Godlewski is the state treasurer, so she's won statewide office in Wisconsin, but that was her first race.  Another Jewish Insider profile.      Here Wikipedia profile offers more details of her interesting international experience.

4.  Tom Nelson -  Born 1976 (45)  

His profile from Ballotpedia:

"Tom Nelson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor's degree from Carleton College in 1998 and a graduate degree from Princeton University in 2004. Nelson's career experience includes working as the county executive of Outagamie County. He has been associated with the Christ the King Lutheran Church, Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, Nichols Historical Society, Outagamie County Democratic Party, and the Seymour Historical Society.[1][2]"

From another JI Insider profile, this assessment of Nelson from a progressive in Wisconsin:

“Most people think of us as two states: a red state and a blue state, and never the twain shall mix,” he told JI via email. “Tom Nelson is a Democratic county executive with great values, who has been elected and reelected in a large, generally Republican-voting county. That is the kind of candidate that can win statewide.”

But he's got to win the primary first.

The best overview of the race I found was the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's piece linked above.