Mandela Barnes raises $1.23 million during last 3 months of 2021 in Wisconsin U.S. Senate race

In the Democratic race for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes raised more than $1.23 million from October through December, his campaign announced early Wednesday.

Barnes' campaign said it has now raised a little more than $2.3 million since the candidate entered the race, although it did not provide a figure of how much money it had on hand at the end of December.

Campaigns have until the end of this month to officially file their fundraising totals for last year's fourth quarter. The numbers are closely watched, providing a barometer of candidate support.

Barnes is among four top Democrats running for the office, including state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson and Alex Lasry, on leave from his executive job with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson announced earlier this month that he was running for a third term. While there will be keen interest in Johnson's fundraising total from late last year, the more significant figure will be his haul for the first three months of this year.

The Barnes campaign said during the most recent quarter, it received an average donation of $43.65 and there were 17,830 total donors. The identities of Barnes' donors will be included in his official filing at the end of the month.

“Less than 6 months into his campaign, there’s no question that Mandela Barnes has built the largest grassroots coalition and is poised to defeat Ron Johnson once and for all,” Barnes' campaign manager Kory Kozloski said in a statement.