Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin U.S. Senate race

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just gave a big-time shout-out to Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in his run for U.S. Senate in the upcoming Democratic primary.

In a Wednesday Instagram post, Ocasio-Cortez urged Wisconsin Democrats to turn out the vote for Barnes later this year.

Barnes responded by reposting the item by the progressive Democrat on his own Instagram page. He then added, "let's get this done @aoc," along with a praying hands emoji.

Officials with Ocasio-Cortez's campaign did not immediately respond to phone calls or emails.

Republican officials said they are not surprised by what appears to be an endorsement of Barnes.

"It’s clear that D.C. liberals are backing Mandela Barnes and he is accepting them with arms wide open," said Lizzie Litzow, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Yesterday, Barnes was begging for and accepted help from dark money groups, and today he’s welcoming an endorsement from AOC when he already has Elizabeth Warren’s backing."

Ocasio-Cortez is part of the so-called Squad of young progressive Democratic lawmakers. The post appeared alongside an interview that Ocasio-Cortez gave to TV host Stephen Colbert, in which she backed expanding the U.S. Supreme Court, ending the Senate filibuster and repealing the Hyde Amendment that prevents federal funds to be used for abortion.

"We CAN do more to pursue these items more aggressively," she wrote. "And THEN once we do we can secure the W and turn out the vote for" Democratic U.S. Senate candidates John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, Barnes in Wisconsin and Tim Ryan in Ohio.

Maddy McDaniel, spokeswoman for Barnes' campaign, said he supports most of the policy items listed by Ocasio-Cortez in the Instagram post, with the exception of boosting the number of Supreme Court justices.

"On Supreme Court expansion, Mandela is open to the conversation, but his priority is reform," McDaniel said. "He believes the Supreme Court should be subject to the same basic ethics rules as every other court in the country. He also supports term limits for justices."

Barnes is locked in a tight primary contest for U.S. Senate that will be decided Aug. 9. In the most recent Marquette University Law School Poll, Barnes held a narrow lead over Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry.

State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson are also making strong runs.

Like the other top candidates in the race, Barnes has voiced support for ending the Senate filibuster and codifying Roe v. Wade to restore abortion rights in the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

While an endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez could help Barnes in the Democratic primary, it could hinder him with some voters in the fall election against Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs Mandela Barnes in U.S. Senate race