State legislature Barca made his first run for public office in 1984. That year, Kenosha's north side state representative,
Joseph Andrea, announced that he would run for
Wisconsin Senate that fall, creating an open seat in the recently redrawn
64th Assembly district. Barca was one of eight candidates who sought the Democratic nomination in that primary, including former county supervisor David Holtze, former city councilmember Gerald Bellow, former school board member Mark Lindas, former UAW local leader Frank Perone, and city police and fire commission member Marlene Mura. Barca prevailed over the divided field with 34% of the vote. At the time of the primary, Barca and others credited his victory to a strong campaign organization. Barca also acknowledged the popularity of his family name, due to his father's decades operating popular Kenosha restaurants. Barca went on to win the general election with nearly 80% of the vote in the heavily Democratic district.
Return to politics In November 2008, after a 14-year absence, Barca was
elected to represent the 64th Assembly district once again. He was again chosen to be Majority Caucus Chairperson, and served as co-chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, and chair of the Partnership for a Stronger Economy. As chair of the Partnership for a Stronger Economy, Barca traveled the state meeting with various small businesses owners and economic development professionals to craft an economic plan for Wisconsin. The Partnership led the way in helping to pass over 50 economic initiatives in the 2009–10 legislative session, including the Small Business Capital Access Program and the Entrepreneurial Assistance Grant Program, both authored by Barca. During this first session back in the Assembly, he also authored legislation to ban
text messaging while driving in Wisconsin. In the
2010 midterm elections, Republicans won complete control of government in Wisconsin. Following the election, Barca was elected by his colleagues to serve as Assembly Democratic Leader in the
100th Wisconsin Legislature. He rose to national prominence shortly after the start of that legislative term, as a leader in the opposition against new Governor
Scott Walker's
"budget repair" bill. Democrats derided the legislation as a historic rollback to union rights in Wisconsin, stripping public employee unions of their right to
collective bargaining. The bill immediately resulted in
mass protests on the
Wisconsin State Capitol grounds, which ultimately lasted for nearly four months. In an attempt to slow down the bill, 14 state senate Democrats fled the state in order to deny a quorum to the state senate. Barca led the opposition in the Assembly, culminating in his coordination of a 60 hour floor debate in which members of the Democratic caucus highlighted their many complaints about the legislation. Barca then led Assembly Democrats in protesting the Republicans' alleged violation of open meetings laws after they stripped out budgetary items from the bill in order to bypass the quorum issue and pass the bill through the Senate. He remained leader of the Democratic minority until September 2017. Officially, he resigned from leadership to focus more attention on his own constituency, but his resignation was also at least partly an acknowledgement of discontent within the caucus—particularly among new members of the legislature—over his support for the
Foxconn in Wisconsin funding package. During the
COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Barca's Department of Revenue played an important role in facilitating business and farm loans in Wisconsin through the federal
CARES Act, and informing the public about how to obtain federal financial support during the pandemic. Barca and the Department of Revenue were also important to major bipartisan legislation advanced during the
2023 term, including the repeal of Wisconsin's unique personal property tax and the compromise which unlocked badly needed shared revenue for Wisconsin's county and municipal governments. In the summer of 2023, Barca was named president of the board of trustees of the Federation of Tax Administrators, a national organization that provides research, training, and other support to state and local tax administrators. On March 28, 2024, Barca announced he would resign as secretary of the Department of Revenue on April 9. At the same time, Barca also publicly expressed interest in running for Congress again in
Wisconsin's 1st congressional district.
2024 campaign On April 18, 2024, Barca told the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he plans to run for the 1st congressional district seat in
2024, challenging incumbent
Bryan Steil. He announced his campaign later that day on twitter, then formally launched his campaign at the Apple Holler apple orchard in Racine County. ==Personal life and family==