Tipsheet

Mandela Barnes Touts His Work on the 'Climate Change Task Force,' but There's Just One Problem

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  May 28, 2026 9:30 AM

The Wisconsin Democrats are gearing up for a messy primary, as several of them fight to be the nominee in the state's upcoming governor's race. While Francesca Hong is the frontrunner, it seems the Democrats aren't too keen on her radical 'defund the police' agenda and may be trying to torpedo her candidacy.

One of her opponents, former Lt. Governor and failed Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, isn't counting himself out of the race yet. In fact, he's trying to tout his accomplishments to stand out from the other Democrats. Unfortunately for Barnes, those accomplishments are few and far between.

Like Hong, Barnes has said he wants to defund both the police and ICE, although Barnes was smart enough to moderate his position for the sake of his campaign. So Barnes is pointing to another one of his efforts as proof he stands out from his fellow Democrats: the Climate Change Task Force.

The problem is Barnes' task force has accomplished nothing.

Here's more:

In a recent interview with The Eagle Herald, a Marinette-based publication, Barnes pointed to his experience as Lt. Governor as what sets him apart in a crowded Democrat primary. Chief among Barnes’s accomplishments as Lt. Governor, he says, was his tenure chairing the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change, whose 115-page report was published in December of 2020.

The task force ultimately produced 55 policy recommendations to be implemented through executive action, agency directives, the 2021-23 state budget, or legislation. But when Barnes was asked in 2022 to name a single recommendation that had actually been implemented, he awkwardly stumbled through his answer before telling the audience he would “need to get back to you.”

To our knowledge, he never did.

The 32-member task force, chaired by Barnes, advanced a sweeping list of climate and energy proposals that critics argued mirrored elements of the national “Green New Deal” movement. Among its recommendations were proposals to prohibit the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure in Wisconsin, including new coal-fired power plants and pipelines.

And here's a video of Barnes not being able to explain his accomplishments in 2022.

"Yeah, so the ... in our state budget, there was some of the, um, some of the carbon pieces with agriculture that did actually get. I think that may have actually ... I need to get back to you ... some of the money for workforce development grants, um, that's a good question. I'm really jogging my brain here. I'll be happy to get back to you on that one, too. I should have had these written down," Barnes said.

Ouch.

With four more years, you'd think Barnes would be able to name something he's done, but he can't.

A fair point.

This is also true. Democrats can pass legislation that's a disaster — take Obamacare, for example — and still claim it as a win because they meant well.

Yikes, indeed.

Any sort of climate change legislation would be disastrous for Wisconsin families. It would raise the cost of energy while taking reliable sources of energy offline in favor of 'green' and 'renewable' sources. This writer lives in Wisconsin and she can tell you our winters get cold. Nothing would be worse than having wind turbines go down when it's -40° outside.