Sean Hannity on Wednesday baselessly raised suspicions about the Senate campaign of Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, saying he doubted that the Democrat raised money from “anybody in Wisconsin” in the last few months.
While interviewing Barnes’ opponent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the Fox News host sought to depict Barnes as a “radical,” putting him in the same group as another lieutenant governor, Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman, as well as Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). In recent weeks, Hannity has ramped up his attacks on all three Democrats, with less than a month to go until the November midterms.
“Sean, you’re just scratching the surface in terms of what a radical leftist Mandela Barnes is,” Johnson responded. “I put him up against Fetterman any day. My problem is, he just raised $20 million.”
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Indeed, three days after Barnes and Johnson met for their first debate on Friday, the Democrat issued a press release claiming a $1.5 million influx in cash from “over 30,000 new contributors.” Barnes had already raised $20 million in the third quarter of 2022, none of which was corporate PAC money, his campaign said.
“From who?” Hannity asked, to which his preferred candidate replied: “From wherever.”
“Anybody in Wisconsin donate to that?” Hannity pressed on. “I doubt it.”
Johnson, who appeared a bit annoyed by the Fox host’s persistence on the topic, suggested the real number was more than zero, but not much more: “Maybe a couple.”
“But again,” he continued, “$20 million—he’s outraising me. The media is amplifying his lies, his distortions, his character assassination. So we have to assume that this is a dead even race.”
The three most recent polls of the campaign, according to FiveThirtyEight, show Johnson with a slight lead, perhaps due to his focus on crime. He hasn’t yet released his third quarter fundraising totals.
