However that didn’t stop Wisconsin from voting for Obama in 2008 & 2012….

Or he would have lost, too.

Edited to add that all the ads I saw in central WI (very conservative areas) played dog whistles all day long - especially in regards to BLM and defund the police. They cut and spliced Barnes' words so that it looked like he supported things he didn't. And he didn't have anywhere near the funds to get on regular old TV a bunch of times and show the back-assward whyte people that he wasn't one of those scary black men from Milwaukee.

With Roe being front and center Godlewski would have easily beaten Johnson.
He's a good guy and would have been a good senator but there is a reason Wisconsin has never elected a non white governor or senator.
Lots of closet racists to go with the proud ones.

Far easier for a female to win a statewide election than a minority.

Johnson pounded YouTube with veiled racist “He’s not one of us” ads. Also that Barnes didn’t pay his taxes, but will raise everyone else’s.

Evers had an ad about Michel’s company allowing bosses to sexually harass female workers. A MAGA ex-coworker was suddenly very upset about all the horrible ads when it came out, so it must have hit home.

and whats worse folks believe his lies....

anytime you see him with a power point the lies are thick and heavy

saw him do a presentation few years back and the lies came one after the other. and folks just gobbled them down.

Its hard to dislike him, and his opponent was a very abrasive Trumpist. I can't imagine that there are many people who view Evers negatively, even if they don't usually vote for Democrats.

I always say if you ask twenty people why they voted the way they did, you'd get twenty different responses.

- Power of the incumbency. If people think things are good, why change? Also, familiarity of the candidate.
- Johnson ran a ton of ads. He set the narrative.
- Racist tone of some of the ads.
- Barnes didn't fight back against accusations connecting him to defund the police.
- Resume. What has Barnes accomplished since college?
- Personal finance issues. It made Barnes look like he wasn't on top of things.
on edit - Lower voter turnout in Milwaukee. Much lower than 2018. The reason why Dems picked Barnes over Lazry in the primary was to energize the Milwaukee base, which turns out didn't happen.

Prior to 2010, Wisconsin was well known as a ticket-splitting state.

The simple truth is that with a 50/50 Senate, this was the wrong election here to have a Black man as our candidate. I think before the primary that the other candidates bowed out, thinking that a huge Black turnout in Milwaukee would elect Barnes. Close, but no cigar, so Johnson gets reelected again. So Wisconsin will elect and reelect an openly gay woman (Tammy Baldwin) to the Senate after Johnson had been elected, but not a Black man.

ballots, PREFER the white man over the man of color. Barnes was not the right candidate to take on Johnson with his deep pockets. Sometimes we must choose candidate based on the likelihood of winning seats, and that is a sad commentary that shows ingoing racism defines elections.

rural wisconsin is bigot central.

signs saying, "Save a Walleye, Spear an Indian". Unreal!