<p>Sen.&nbsp;<a class="person-popover__link" href="https://thehill.com/people/ron-johnson/" _mce_href="https://thehill.com/people/ron-johnson/">Ron Johnson&nbsp;</a>(Wis.), who was the Democrats’ biggest Republican target in the Senate,&nbsp;was projected to defeat Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) and win<strong>&nbsp;</strong>reelection to a third term.&nbsp;</p> <p>NBC News and CNN both called the race for Johnson.</p> <div class="ad-unit__content"></div> <p>Johnson and allied outside groups spent the last several months of the race defining Barnes as soft on crime in a barrage of attack ads, which some Democratic critics say were intended to sow racial divisions and play on the fears of suburban voters. &nbsp;</p> <p>Johnson and Republican allied groups repeatedly hit Barnes for supporting the end of cash bail, which they linked to the 2021 Waukesha Christmas parade attack in which a 39-year-old man who had been released from custody on $1,000 bail after being accused of domestic violence crashed his SUV through a crowd, killing six people and injuring dozens more. &nbsp;</p> <p>The race culminated in a fiery debate in Madison last month where Barnes accused Johnson of caring more about taking care of wealthy donors than helping working-class Wisconsinites and Johnson jabbed back by pointing to the more than $600,000 in taxpayer money spent on Barnes’s security detail. &nbsp;</p> <p>The debate reflected the nasty tone of the campaign.&nbsp;</p>