Mandela Barnes appears at a rally outside the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (right) on July 23, 2022.
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At the beginning of the year, Bennett said he was also concerned that Fetterman’s progressive bona fides would hurt him in the general election. But in recent months he has been impressed as Fetterman has outpolled and outraised his Republican opponent, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz: “Fetterman offers a pretty good roadmap for Barnes, which is, after he wrapped up the nomination, he has made very clear that he’s his own guy. He’s a different kind of Democrat.”
The early polling in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin has excited liberals, particularly after suffering losses in several House primaries this year. A Fox News survey found Fetterman leading Oz by 11 percentage points. A Marquette Law School poll put Barnes ahead of Johnson by two points, which was within the margin of error.
“Both Barnes and Fetterman are extraordinary candidates who are showing that you can be for progressive policies like Medicare for All and win in battleground states,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a former co-chair of Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
Republicans have argued that neither candidate was seriously tested during their primaries, and that voters are just beginning to learn about them. Oz’s first TV ad in the general election tied Fetterman to Biden and Sanders and cast his record as soft on crime. The GOP has pointed to Barnes’ support of the Green New Deal as well as his late payment of property taxes in 2019 as vulnerabilities.
Ben Voelkel, a senior adviser to Johnson’s campaign, said Barnes is campaigning on a “socialist’s wish list of the Green New Deal, defunding the police and abolishing ICE.”
Brittany Yanick, a spokesperson for Oz, said Fetterman is “the most radical candidate in the country.”
Democrats have likewise sought to portray Oz and Johnson as too conservative. They note that Oz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump in the primary, said “we cannot move on” from the 2020 election, and Johnson echoed Trump’s false claims of voter fraud.
“It’s Oz’s support for banning abortion that is radical here in Pennsylvania,” said Fetterman spokesperson Joe Calvello. Oz aides say that their candidate opposes abortion but supports exceptions for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother.
Lauren Chou, a spokeswoman for Barnes, said, “When Ron Johnson’s priorities are repealing the Affordable Care Act, slashing Social Security, and shipping American jobs overseas, the only thing he and his allies can do is make up lies about Mandela Barnes.”
Barnes and Fetterman have made efforts to appeal to a broad electorate ahead of November. They have declined to make Medicare for All the centerpiece of their campaigns and distanced themselves from some progressive positions. Fetterman has even said recently that he doesn’t consider himself a progressive, while Barnes has argued “it’s not about labels.”
John Fetterman campaigns for U.S. Senate at a meet and greet at Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport on May 10, 2022 in Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania.