Johnson Projected Winner Over Barnes In U.S. Senate Race: WI Midterms

WISCONSIN — U.S. Senator Ron Johnson claimed victory over his Democratic challenger in a statement Wednesday morning, with several major media outlets calling the race for the incumbent Republican by noon.

Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes conceded by the afternoon at a news conference. The latest unofficial vote totals via The New York Times showed Johnson leading over Barnes by 27,374 votes.

"Whether or not we always saw eye to eye," Barnes told a crowd flanked by his parents, "I can tell you what it means, that you at least gave me a chance. Because I do believe that there is so much more that unites us than divides us, and all it takes is us reaching out, talking to each other to bridge that divide."

"I'm standing here today ready to jump back in ready to keep going because I know that we're still in this together and that's all I've ever needed," Barnes told his supporters.

Johnson at first claimed that the "media is refusing to call a race that is over" and asserted no path remains for Barnes to win. CNN and NBC were among the first networks to call it for Johnson.

By the time Johnson claimed victory, 98.91 percent of the vote was in, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"In a race that many observers wrote off months ago, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes soared above expectations and came within a hair's breadth of defeating a two-term Republican incumbent in a midterm with a Democratic president," said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. Senate Election Results in Wisconsin:

Unofficial results via The New York Times. Last updated 11:50 a.m. with over 95 percent of precincts reporting.

Republican Ron Johnson (I): 1,334,670

Democrat Mandela Barnes: 1,307,296

See also: Evers Retains Veto Powers As WisDems Claim GOP Supermajority Avoided

The Associated Press contributed to this story.