Democratic congressional candidates continue to push the idea of ending cash bail even as voters signal their opposition and as law enforcement officers warn that the practice could be leading to a spike in crime.
Candidates in must-win Senate races and deep-blue House seats are facing a barrage of GOP attacks over the issue. Even as polls show that voters rate crime as a top issue, some Democrats are refusing to disavow their support of the controversial policy that prohibits courts from requiring the payment of bail in cash before defendants accused of crimes can be released to the public. Democrats who oppose cash bail say it’s unfair to lower-income people who can’t afford to pay it.
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the Democrat nominee vying to oust GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, defended his support for the policy during a recent debate.
“Sen. Johnson may not have encountered a problem that he can’t buy his way out of, but that’s not the reality for the majority of people in this state,” said Barnes.
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Johnson, a two-term incumbent once seen as highly vulnerable, has used the issue to paint Barnes as “soft on crime.” GOP groups aligned with the senator are running ads tying Barnes to Darrell Brooks, a Wisconsin man who killed six people last year by plowing his car through a Christmas parade. Brooks had been arrested days before the attack on domestic assault charges but was freed after posting $1,000 in bail.
Barnes says the ads mischaracterize his position on abolishing cash bail. The lieutenant governor has argued that under his proposal, judges would have the discretion to hold a defendant in custody if there was evidence they were a threat to themselves or others.
“The lieutenant governor believes we should decide who is imprisoned before their trial begins based on how much of a risk they pose to the community not on how much money they have,” a Barnes’ spokesperson said earlier this year to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
A CBS News poll from last month found that while Johnson had a higher unfavorable rating than Barnes, 42% thought his policies would make them more safe from crime. Only 29% of voters said the same of Barnes.
In Pennsylvania, a similar situation is playing out. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has seen his polling lead shrink since the summer as Republican Mehmet Oz has made crime a top issue.
Oz’s Senate campaign is running ads of remarks Fetterman made in 2018 calling Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s push to end cash bail “common sense.”
Fetterman, like Barnes, has lost out on the endorsement of several police unions over his statements on ending cash bail. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police even said in its decision to endorse Oz that Fetterman “has a long history of anti-police rhetoric and advocacy for policies that make communities less safe.”
“He is so extreme and out-of-touch that he thinks ending cash bail, pardoning convicted murderers, mass releasing inmates, decriminalizing deadly heroin and fentanyl, and putting heroin injection sites in our neighborhoods are all ‘common sense,'” said Brittany Yanick, communications director for the Oz campaign.
Fetterman’s campaign has accused Oz of lying about his position on cash bail for political gain.
“John is against eliminating cash bail for all criminal offenses, but he agrees with Republicans and Democrats that the system needs to be reformed – particularly for non-violent, low-level, and non-repeat offenders,” said Joe Calvello, a spokesman for Fetterman’s campaign.
Other Senate Democrats are facing similar attacks.
Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Ohio, is dogged by comments he made in 2019 during his failed White House bid supporting the abolition of cash bail. Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, who is running to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr, is facing similar attacks over her prior support.
The potency of the issue is also evident in House races once thought to be safe for Democrats.
In the contest for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, a deep-blue seat covering most of Pittsburgh, Democrats are playing defense after nominating a former state representative that authored legislation ending cash bail.
A similar situation is playing out in New York’s 25th Congressional District, a seat President Joe Biden won by 23 percentage points in 2020. Republicans have nominated an African-American former police chief who is running hard against the state legislature’s decision to abolish cash bail.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and other GOP groups are pouring money into both races, confident the issue of ending cash bail will win back the majority.
“These Democrats won’t be able to run from their pro-crime records,” said NRCC deputy communications director Mike Berg.