In the past two weeks, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes have warned Democratic donors about a burst of Republican advertising in their states, with both U.S. Senate candidates warning that it could shift the outcome of Democrats two best pickup opportunities for the chamber.
What has gone unsaid is the topic of basically all of those Republican ads: crime. In both states, the GOP has essentially abandoned any advertising on economic issues, instead hammering Barnes and Fetterman with over-the-top and sometimes misleading ads about crime.
Despite the highest inflation in decades and a multitude of evidence pointing to the economy as the top issue ahead of Novembers midterm elections, the GOP has settled on crime as the way to convince voters that Barnes and Fetterman are out of touch. The result is a vivid test for the viability of liberal ideals on criminal justice in two states at the core of the modern American political battleground.
We take Barnes and Fetterman at their word: They have openly and repeatedly advocated for going easy on criminals and letting prisoners onto our streets, said Jack Pandol, the communications director for the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC a political action committee controlled by allies of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell thats responsible for much of the advertising.
Its not only dangerous; it will prove to voters beyond a shadow of a doubt these two have no business representing them in the Senate, Pandol added.
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Barnes and Fetterman, who have both downplayed ideological labels during their campaigns, are the first candidates with roots in the progressive movement to win Democratic Senate nominations in major swing states in a decade. The two have been handed one of the toughest jobs in the modern Democratic Party: winning states dominated by white working-class voters in a difficult political environment.
The two lieutenant governors won statewide office by running alongside notably more muted governors in 2018. The pair, who have a long history of backing criminal justice reform efforts, are heading similar class-based campaigns against their wealthy GOP opponents.
There are also differences between the two and how they can fend off the attacks. Fetterman worked directly with police officers as mayor of the small city of Braddock, while Barnes was only a state legislator. And of course, Barnes is Black a fact that the GOP seems all too happy to remind voters of.
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The GOP has a history of using racist imagery and racist connotations in their advertising, said Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC, a Democratic-leaning political action committee. In many ways, its been effective. Of course theyre going to go there.
Race-Baiting, Fearmongering
In an ad featuring urban graffiti and pairing Barnes with two other lawmakers of color Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) the National Republican Senatorial Committee says Barnes is a defund-the-police Democrat. (Barnes does not support defunding the police.)
A separate ad from the NRSC says Barnes would join the socialist Squad a reference to a small group of progressive and left-wing House Democrats that includes Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and other lawmakers of color.
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