Wisconsin's former lieutenant governor abruptly suspended his Democratic gubernatorial campaign Thursday, just days before a local newspaper published allegations that he used his position to make sexual advances toward women in the workplace.
Mandela Barnes, who served as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023 and carried endorsements from Sen. Adam Schiff of California and other national Democrats, posted a video statement to X announcing he was done. He framed the move as a concession to political reality, saying the Democratic field had already produced a clear frontrunner, though he declined to name who that frontrunner was.
The timing told a different story. Shortly after Barnes posted his video, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a report detailing what Fox News Digital described as "rumblings that Barnes may have abused his position in the past to make sexual advances toward women in the workplace." Barnes's campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether the reporting played any role in his decision to quit.
A Barnes spokesperson told Politico flatly: "There are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing against Mandela." That denial landed just as the Journal Sentinel's investigation went live.
Barnes was not simply bowing out gracefully. He was losing. The most recent Marquette Law School poll showed him pulling just 21 percent of Democratic primary voters, compared to 42 percent for state Rep. Francesca Hong, the Washington Examiner reported. Hong, a self-described democratic socialist, had built a fundraising lead as well, nearly $709,000 raised as of late June, according to Wisconsin state campaign finance records.
David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive and the other remaining major Democrat in the race, trailed both with $250,000 in fundraising. But Crowley carried the endorsement of outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, who passed over Barnes in favor of Crowley's executive experience.
Barnes framed his exit as an act of party unity. In his video, he urged Democrats to rally behind whoever wins the August 11 primary and focus on defeating Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor.
"Now it's our time to come together and focus our efforts on that one goal. We have to do everything to beat Tom Tiffany. This is life or death for Wisconsinites who are losing their healthcare under a Trump administration."
The plea for unity came from a candidate who, weeks earlier, had attacked a rival's re-entry into the race as a selfish act. When Crowley jumped back into the primary after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out over a campaign finance scandal, Barnes's campaign manager Darby O'Connor called the move a "Hail Mary" that "serves no purpose other than playing spoiler and handing our state to Trump's handpicked candidate in Tom Tiffany."
Barnes is the third Democrat to abandon the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary, a pattern that has turned what should have been a competitive race into a slow-motion collapse. Rodriguez, the sitting lieutenant governor and an early establishment favorite, quit after discovering her campaign had hundreds of thousands of dollars less on hand than expected. She fired her campaign manager before ultimately pulling out, saying the financial problems "would be an ongoing distraction." Former state economic development director Missy Hughes also withdrew earlier in the cycle.
The serial departures have left the Democratic field in the hands of Hong, whose democratic socialist politics and backing from Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Ro Khanna position her well to the left of the Wisconsin electorate. Far-left primary wins have become a recurring headache for Democrats nationally, and Wisconsin may be next.
Tiffany, the Republican nominee, has already signaled he intends to run a general election campaign that transcends partisan labels. "This election is not about red versus blue," Tiffany said. "It is about whether Wisconsin stays Wisconsin."
Sen. Adam Schiff endorsed Barnes earlier in the cycle, calling him "the kind of bold leader we need to take on the Trump administration." That endorsement now sits alongside an investigation into workplace misconduct allegations and a campaign that never gained traction with Wisconsin voters. Schiff has faced questions before about his willingness to attach his name to Democrats whose candidacies later imploded.
Barnes had built his campaign on a progressive platform: raising taxes on top earners, freezing energy costs, providing universal childcare, and lowering the cost of housing. None of it mattered once the polling gap widened and the Journal Sentinel started asking questions.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party itself had already been looking into Barnes's conduct. High-profile Democratic candidate collapses are becoming a pattern rather than an exception, and the Wisconsin party hired a law firm in 2025 to investigate claims that Barnes used his position to seek inappropriate relationships with young adult women.
Hong moved quickly to absorb Barnes's supporters. "The Barnes campaign helped grow the progressive movement," she said after his exit. "To everyone who supported Mandela because you believe working people deserve a government that fights for them, I welcome you to our movement."
With less than two weeks until the primary, Wisconsin Democrats face a general election matchup they did not plan for. Their gubernatorial field has been gutted by financial scandal, misconduct allegations, and poor polling. The last candidate standing with real momentum is a democratic socialist in a swing state.
Barnes closed his video with a promise that sounded more like a concession speech than a rallying cry: "While I may be suspending my campaign, I'll never give up my fight for Wisconsin." Whether Wisconsin voters wanted that fight was answered by the Marquette poll weeks ago.
Democrats nationally continue to face mounting signs that their path to power is narrowing. Wisconsin was supposed to be a bright spot, a purple state where a well-funded Democrat could reclaim the governor's mansion and build a firewall against Republican gains. Instead, the party burned through three candidates before the primary ballot was even printed.
When a party's best-endorsed candidate quits the race the same day a misconduct investigation drops, the voters who have to live with the consequences deserve better than a spokesperson's denial and a plea for unity.