Mandela Barnes
Press Release

The Math Still Ain’t Mathing…

Mandela Barnes Outraises The Entire Primary Field While Sara Rodriguez’s Campaign Falls Nearly $120k In Debt So Far; Rodriguez Running Ads On TV While Still Owing Taxpayers Thousands Of Dollars For Security

By - Jul 16th, 2026 10:55 am

On Monday, Sara Rodriguez claimed she had around $200k cash-on-hand after being hit with an “extinction level event” and “mortal blow” due to lying to voters on campaign finance reports and committing potential ethics violations.

However… following last night’s reporting deadline, Sara Rodriguez reports having just $34k cash-on-hand, along with more than $152k in debts. Her campaign tried to claim that they’ve raked in more donations since the reporting deadline—but still did not address what outstanding expenses they owe or update their last report.

And while her campaign has made an ad buy targeting Milwaukee, Rodriguez reports debts to the State of Wisconsin of more than $9k. Her campaign is nearly $120k in debt, yet she is spending her money on TV and still owes the taxpayers money for security costs without any reported means of paying it back.

Meanwhile—Mandela Barnes outraised the entire primary field. He enters the final month of the campaign having raised nearly $1.4 million with donations from all 72 counties, over 12k donors and the lowest average individual contribution.

QUESTIONS SARA RODRIGUEZ STILL HAS NOT ANSWERED:

  • When will your report be accurate? Shouldn’t Wisconsinites be able to know the state of your campaign finances?
  • Will you be refunding those who were misled about the viability of your campaign?
  • Why did you claim to have $200k cash-on-hand? How much do you still owe in outstanding debts and expenses owed by to the campaign? How much do you owe in expenses?
  • Will you be reporting this incident to law enforcement? Do you believe your campaign has committed fraud or broken any laws?
  • Is your campaign manager receiving a severance package? Did she sign an NDA?
  • Why did it take 6 months for you to find out about these errors? Did you not review your campaign finance report before it was filed?
  • When do you expect your prior campaign finance filings will be amended to be accurate?

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Mentioned in This Press Release

Government:

Recent Press Releases by Mandela Barnes

Mandela Barnes Announces Raising Nearly $1.4 Million in Campaign for Governor Now

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