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Yes.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes received slightly more of the vote share than President Joe Biden did in 2020 and significantly more than Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton did in 2016.

Barnes, who lost to Republican incumbent Ron Johnson, received 49.5% of the vote in the 2022 midterms, compared to Johnson’s 50.5%.

In 2020, Biden won Wisconsin with 49.45% of the vote, while Republican incumbent Donald Trump received 48.82%. 

In 2016, Clinton lost Wisconsin and received 46.5% of the vote, compared to Trump’s 47.2%.

Turnout tends to be higher in presidential election years. Biden won about 320,000 more votes in 2020 than Barnes did in 2022. And Clinton received about 72,000 more votes than Barnes did.

Both presidential races also had Libertarian candidates on the ballot, while the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin did not have any third-party candidates. In 2020, Jo Jorgenson received 1.17% of the vote, and in 2016, Gary Johnson won 3.6% of the vote.

Sources

New York Times: Wisconsin U.S. Senate Election Results

New York Times: Wisconsin Presidential Election Results 2020

New York Times: Wisconsin Election Results 2016

FairVote: U.S. voter turnout

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Hope Karnopp joined Wisconsin Watch as a reporting intern in May 2022. She is a journalism major and is pursuing certificates in public policy and environmental studies at UW-Madison. Hope previously covered state politics as an intern for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She also works with the Daily Cardinal and hosts a radio segment about campus news for WORT-FM, which has been recognized by the Milwaukee Press Club.