Mandela Barnes drops out of high-stakes Wisconsin governor’s race

Mandela Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, dropped out of the Democratic primary for governor on Thursday, upending the high-stakes contest less than two weeks before the 11 August election.

Barnes announced the decision in a video posted on social media, saying he no longer saw a viable path to the nomination, as democratic socialist Francesca Hong surged ahead with a commanding lead.

“It’s become very clear who our nominee is going to be,” Barnes, 39, said.

A Marquette Law School poll showed Hong significantly ahead of Barnes in a distant second place, with 38% compared to his 16%, having consolidated liberal support, especially among young voters, although about a third of primary voters remained undecided.

Soon after Barnes’s withdrawal, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported it had sent questions to the candidate about past allegations of inappropriate behavior that had been anonymously submitted to the Wisconsin Democratic party, local party officials and others.

According to the Journal Sentinel, the state party hired a law firm in 2025 to investigate the claims sent in a letter that Barnes had used his position in the party to pursue inappropriate relationships with “young adult women”.

The party’s internal review and outside investigation found no actionable evidence because the claims were “anonymous and unspecific”, the Journal Sentinel reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

Barnes’s campaign denied any wrongdoing.

“There are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing against Mandela,” it said in a statement.

His departure adds another twist in the Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, a perennial presidential battleground that has also been at the center of national disputes over election administration since the 2020 election.

He is the third Democrat to exit the race, following lieutenant governor Sara Rodriguez, who withdrew two weeks ago amid a campaign finance scandal. After Rodriguez’s exit, Milwaukee county executive David Crowley re-entered the race with the endorsement of Governor Tony Evers, who is not seeking re-election.

Earlier this summer, Missy Hughes, a former state economic development director, ended her campaign.

On Wednesday, a judge rejected an effort backed by the Democratic party to let voters who had already cast absentee ballots void their initial vote and vote again, over concerns that many early ballots had been cast for candidates who were no longer in the race.

Crowley moved quickly to appeal to Barnes’s supporters: “There’s a place for you in what we’re building.”

Evers told reporters he was surprised by Barnes’s decision to withdraw but reiterated his support for Crowley, saying he believed Crowley was the strongest candidate “even if Mandela was in”, the Associated Press reported.

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Wisconsin is expected to face Republican US congressman Tom Tiffany, who is backed by Donald Trump.

Barnes was once viewed as a rising star in Democratic politics. In 2022, rather than seek re-election as lieutenant governor, he ran for the US Senate, narrowly losing the race to incumbent Republican Ron Johnson.

Rachel Leingang contributed reporting