Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes came within a whisker of unseating US Sen. Ron Johnson, whose campaign carcass was dragged over the finish line by billionaires who put tens of millions of dollars into racist ads. And yet it’s Barnes who’s the target of not-so-subtle talk in some Democratic circles that he shouldn’t run for governor in 2026 because he didn’t beat Johnson and the billionaires in 2022. We’ll ask Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area about the reasons why Barnes should or shouldn’t make a run for governor.

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