The short video published at the beginning of September does not bother with nuances: “Mandela Barnes is not just a Democrat, he is a dangerous Democrat”, strikes a voice-over in an obvious tone. The overlay of images, concocted by the Republican Party’s campaign teams for the November 8 midterm elections, suggests the candidate’s indirect responsibility in the deadly attack carried out by a repeat offender released on bail, during a a Christmas parade in a town in Wisconsin in November 2021. he was a supporter of a reform of the bail system, which was particularly unfavorable to people in preventive detention from black and poor backgrounds.
Two weeks before the election, in the purest American electoral tradition, the season of “negative publicity” is in full swing, and denigrating your opponent on his program, real or supposed, is essential between two often acrimonious debates. Another video, broadcast in recent weeks on television channels and social networks, also accuses the African-American candidate of wanting to cut police budgets and associates him with the “Squad”, this group of elected Democrats from of diversity, a symbol of the left wing of the party and hated by the conservatives.
The Grand Old Party spent nearly $40 million on political crime ads in September, three times more than the previous month
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests against police violence in 2020, Mandela Barnes, like other Democrats, spoke out for the transfer of part of the police budgets to social services. Since then, the one who aspires to become the first black senator from Wisconsin has changed his mind and now advocates an increase in funds devoted to law enforcement. As for the slogan then, “defund the police”, it is no longer brandished in the Democratic ranks. Joe Biden himself could not have been clearer during his State of the Union address in March: “When it comes to protecting the American public, the answer is not ‘defund the police’ but defund the police”.
But at the end of the campaign, security issues are on the heels of economic concerns and those related to immigration in the priorities of voters. And the Republicans were not mistaken. They have launched a series of attacks against their Democratic opponents in several key states. According to an analysis by public radio NPR, the ‘Grand Old Party’ (GOP) spent nearly $40 million (40 million euros) on political ads on crime in September, three times more than the previous month . At the same time, the Democrats have focused their attacks on the positions of their opponents on the right to abortion, questioned by the Supreme Court at the federal level in June.
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