WISCONSIN (LifeSiteNews) – Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has been confirmed the winner of his race for a third term, after criticizing the media for delaying their acknowledgement of the outcome.
The Associated Press called the race shortly before noon November 9, with Johnson winning 50.5% of the vote to the 49.5% won by his Democrat foe, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. “The corporate media is refusing to call a race that is over,” Johnson declared beforehand. “There is no path mathematically for Lt. Gov. Barnes to overcome his 27,374 vote deficit. This race is over. Truth has prevailed over lies and the politics of personal destruction.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get over the finish line this time,” Barnes acknowledged around noon Wednesday. “I know this movement has meant so much to all of us. But just because we didn’t get across the finish line, that doesn’t mean that it’s over.”
Johnson, who has served in the Senate since 2011, found favor among conservatives for his generally conservative, 100% pro-life voting record and active pursuit of hot-button issues such as the COVID-19 vaccines and the Biden family’s business dealings with foreign nations.
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This year he alarmed those same conservatives, however, first by striking a detached tone on abortion suggesting that the practice “is not going away” and that anyone who wanted to abort could travel to other states, then by signaling openness to a Democrat bill to codify same-sex “marriage” and lay groundwork for the forced recognition of polygamy. Johnson backed away from that bill following conservative backlash.
Barnes, by contrast, is a pro-abortion liberal whom opponents argued was soft on crime for his record of supporting the release of criminals and the defunding of law enforcement. He will be succeeded as lieutenant governor by Democrat Sara Rodriguez, who won election alongside Democrat incumbent Gov. Tony Evers, who defeated Republican businessman Tim Michels.
Johnson won by a narrower margin than his previous victories, which, when taken in conjunction with broader predictions of a “red wave” failing to materialize in the midterms, has caused deep concern about the direction of the electorate, the effectiveness of Republican strategies and messaging, and the integrity of elections in Wisconsin and across the country.