- [Steven] Democratic US Senate candidate, Mandela Barnes.
Thank you for joining us.
- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
- Currently, Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor,
previously you were a state lawmaker.
Why do you wanna be a US Senator?
- Well, I'm running for the us Senate
to rebuild the middle class.
The same middle class that gave me so much opportunity.
My mother was a public school teacher.
My dad worked third shift on the assembly line.
Those jobs were their ticket to the middle class,
and unfortunately those tickets are harder
and harder for people to come by.
Whether you're in urban communities or rural communities.
And we're in desperate need of leadership right now,
people who have a firsthand understanding
of what is actually going on.
People like Ron Johnson have left people in every corner
of this state behind, that is a problem.
Especially as people see rising costs
at the grocery store, at the gas pump.
We see our industries in crisis.
Manufacturing is suffering.
Our small family farmers are being squeezed out
by large corporate monopolies.
Yet, the same time,
we have an outta touch US Senate that is completely broken.
And that's one thing I also hear from people too,
that it is a millionaire's club
that they wanna see broken up
because the overwhelming majority of people in this state,
and then across this country, are not millionaires.
And that's why the issues continue
to get swept under the rug.
So I decide to run for the US Senate to make sure
that the opportunity that I had growing up is available
to every person, in every county,
and every zip code all across the state.
- [Steven] If elected, what would
your legislative priorities be?
- We have a unique opportunity to address climate change
and create good paying jobs in the process,
but we have to be aggressive to take advantage of it.
And we also have to save our democracy.
I mean, nothing else matters
if we don't protect the right to vote.
If we don't make sure that people have access
to the ballot as they should.
And, you know, what's top of mind
for so many other people is protecting the right to choose.
And I tell people all the time,
if this isn't your number one issue,
the right to choose, I guarantee you,
there is a fundamental right
that will be under attack in the coming months,
in the coming years, if we don't act now.
That's why we have to expand the Democratic majority
end the filibuster, codify the right to choose,
Roe versus Wade into the law.
- [Steven] On the economy,
inflation has reached a 40 year high.
What action should federal lawmakers take on inflation?
- Yeah, when it comes to inflation,
I tell you, there are a couple things that we have to do.
In the short term, we need to give relief
to working class families, to middle class households.
That means expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit.
That means making the Child Tax Credit permanent.
And we can do that by making sure
that the wealthiest in this country pay their fair share.
And in the long term,
we have to do more of what we've done before.
And that's building things right here in America.
When we build things in America,
specifically in Wisconsin,
we're less vulnerable to supply chain issues
that drive up costs for consumers.
And we also need to address the pressing issues
of price gouging and corporate greed
that has made it more difficult for families
to even weather this economic storm
that they've been dealing with.
- [Steven] There have been a number
of major mass shootings and an uptake in other gun deaths.
How should the US Senate address gun violence?
- I'll tell you gun violence is an issue
that is incredibly deeply personal for me,
lost my first friend in high school
and lost a handful of others,
while I was still in high school, to gun violence.
And to know that pain is something I don't wish on anyone.
But there is the responsibility to act.
States can't take this piecemeal approach
and expect the whole country to be safe.
With that said,
what I support is what an overwhelming majority
of people in this state, in this country support.
What a majority of gun owner support.
That's universal background checks.
That's banning of assault weapons,
and it's also red flag laws
that help keep dangerous weapons out of the hands
of people who shouldn't have them.
Getting these weapons of war off the streets.
There's no reason people should have such easy access
to killing machines as they do.
This isn't, you know, these assault weapons aren't
to assault game, it's not to assault a deer.
These are, weapons are made to assault human bodies.
And we see the carnage that has been left
in countless incident after incident.
Whether it's Uvalde, whether it's Highland Park.
It is long past time for you know,
the Senate, for Congress to take substative action.
Now, what they just passed, I look at it as the first step,
but recognizing there's still so much more work
to do to make our streets safer.
- [Steven] Supreme court has overruled Roe versus Wade.
What should the US Senate do on the matter of abortion?
- The US Senate has to end the filibuster
so we can codify the right to choose into law.
70% of people in the state of Wisconsin agree.
But unfortunately, this is how out of touch our leaders are.
This is how out touch the United States Senate is.
This is how out of touch people,
specifically like Ron Johnson,
have become on such a deeply personal matter.
Look, some people know I'm an only child,
but not everybody knows that my mother
had a complicated pregnancy before I was born.
She had to make the difficult,
painful decision that was best for herself,
that was best for her health.
But the decision she made was hers, it was hers alone.
And that is a right, that should be available
to anyone in this country who is in need of abortion.
And that's why we have to fight so hard this November
to expand that majority,
to take into account the realities
that people are experiencing.
Those realities that are consistently ignored
by an out of touch US Senate.
And we need to make the right
to choose the law the land once and for all.
- [Steven] How would you reassure Wisconsin voters
to have confidence in the election system?
- Most people do have confidence in the election system.
It was reported widely that the 2020 election was one
of the most safe elections on record.
One thing we could do to make our elections more secure
is to get people who have no regard
for our democracy out of office.
For a person to have the audacity to try to step in
and overturn the will of the people.
The will of the people in the state that
that person was elected to represent
is a total abdication of responsibility.
- [Steven] Ron Johnson has won election to the Senate twice.
Why are you the candidate, the Democrat,
who can beat him in the general election in November?
- The coalition we've built includes the entirety
of the state of Wisconsin.
We have small business owners, farmers, people
from my hometown of Milwaukee, here in Madison,
and all across the state of Wisconsin
who've stepped up to support this campaign.
Small business owners, again,
from all parts of the state of Wisconsin
and the coalition of family farmers
that understand that our need to unite is greater now
than it has ever been.
There is an imminent threat
with Senator Johnson in the US Senate,
threat to our democracy, a threat to our way of life.
And we need leaders who are gonna step in,
say enough is enough.
People are gonna step in, put an end to these practices
that have made it harder and harder
for everyday people to get ahead.
We have to change Washington,
and only when we change Washington
is when we change the people we send to Washington.
- [Steven] Mandela Barnes,
thank you again for joining us.
- Thanks so much for having me.