Ron Johnson defeats Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin Senate race, NBC News projects - NBC News

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson has won re-election to a 3rd word successful Wisconsin, NBC News projects, narrowly defeating Democrat Mandela Barnes.

“The votes are in,” Johnson said in an email statement that was released earlier NBC News and different quality outlets made the call. “There is nary way mathematically for Lt. Gov. Barnes to flooded his 27,374 ballot deficit. This contention is over.”

Democrats had initially been hopeful that they could oust Johnson, who was progressively defined by headlines implicit his statements connected issues specified as abortion, his perpetuation of dubious and unproven Covid treatments, and his ties to the Jan. 6 riot and fake elector plot to assistance propulsion the 2020 predetermination to then-President Donald Trump. 

But a palmy rebrand, arsenic good as unrelenting attacks against Barnes connected crime and transgression justness issues, appeared to assistance Johnson's lasting among voters.

Barnes made an aboriginal stake to run arsenic a progressive and mostly did not determination to the center. His run focused heavy connected promises to support termination rights and Social Security benefits.

In the last weeks, Johnson focused connected transgression successful particular, unleashing a barrage of antagonistic ads that highlighted rising transgression rates and singling retired things Barnes had said astir transgression justness reform. Some ads focused connected positions Barnes had taken oregon statements helium had made — specified arsenic his enactment for ending currency bail and saying that “reducing situation populations is present sexy” — portion others made misleading claims astir his tenure arsenic the state's lieutenant governor, similar accusing “his administration” of having paroled hundreds of convulsive offenders.

Johnson had built a tiny pb successful astir polls implicit Barnes — though wrong the borderline of mistake — aft helium began his relentless absorption connected crime, and his triumph suggests the strategy was a success. 

Barnes focused overmuch of his closing message hammering Johnson implicit his opposition to abortion rights — an contented Democrats crossed the state had hoped would energize their basal successful the midterms pursuing the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade successful June. That ruling meant Wisconsin’s near-total termination prohibition from 1849 went into effect implicit the summer.

Johnson has said he supports an termination prohibition that includes exceptions for rape, incest and the beingness of the mother, but has not called for the Legislature to alteration the state’s 1849 law. As a senator, Johnson co-sponsored the Life astatine Conception Act enshrining a “right to beingness oregon the close to beingness of each calved and preborn quality person” successful the Constitution and allowing adjacent protections astatine “the infinitesimal of fertilization.” However, helium besides said during the run that helium would enactment a precocious offered connection to make a “single-issue referendum” that would let Wisconsin voters to determine connected the aboriginal of termination rights successful the state. (Last month, the Republican-controlled authorities Legislature blocked archetypal efforts to get that question connected the ballot.)

Barnes had besides attempted to undercut Johnson’s claims that helium supports instrumentality enforcement by repeatedly pointing retired that he downplayed the Jan. 6 riot, successful which constabulary were overrun and successful immoderate cases brutally beaten by a pro-Trump mob.