Wisconsin's progressive Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes handily won the state's Democratic U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, advancing to take on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in a November matchup that could play a key role in determining which party controls the upper chamber next year.
"This is the honor of a lifetime," Barnes said following his landslide victory, which was expected after his top Democratic rivals dropped out last month.
"Now, we take the fight to Ron Johnson," Barnes declared on social media. "We're going to the Senate to rebuild the middle class. We're going to protect the right to choose. We're going to fight to make the American Dream an American reality. Are you with me?"
Barnes, a supporter of Medicare for All, won the backing of high-profile lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who celebrated the lieutenant governor's victory as a win for efforts to reshape a chamber that has long stood as an obstacle to progressive change.
"We need strong progressives like Mandela in the Senate to fight for an agenda that looks out for the working class of this country, not billionaires and corporations," Sanders tweeted. "On to November!"
A survey conducted ahead of Tuesday's primary showed Barnes leading by two percentage points in a hypothetical general election matchup against Johnson, a Trump loyalist who recently said he would favor turning Social Security and Medicare into "discretionary spending" programs, further opening the door to cuts.
"Wisconsinites pay into Social Security through a lifetime of hard work, and they're counting on this program and Medicare—but Ron Johnson just doesn't care," Barnes said in response to Johnson's remarks last week.
Along with Pennsylvania, where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is taking on ultra-rich ex-TV personality Dr. Oz, Wisconsin is one of several states where Democrats are looking to flip Senate seats in their bid to maintain control of the chamber and expand their razor-thin margins.
Analysts consider the Wisconsin race a toss-up, and progressives voiced confidence Tuesday that Barnes will succeed in denying the Republican incumbent a third term.
"Even before he got in the race, we knew Mandela was the candidate who could build a winning coalition to take on Ron Johnson," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. "All his life, Mandela has been bringing people together across race and place. Tonight is the starting gun for what may be the make-or-break election of the year."
"If Mandela succeeds, we can change how the Senate works—and who it works for," Mitchell added. "We've been with Mandela from day one, and we'll be with him through November."
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Jake Johnson.