Ka kammala wannan jumla: Barnes ya kasance dan takarar Republican ga attorney general a 1938 amma ya rasa ga mai suna Paul A. Dever. Ya sake gudu a 1940, amma ya rasa dan takarar Republican zuwa Robert T. Bushnell. Barnes ya kasance memba na Majalisar Gwamnan Massachusetts daga 1943 zuwa 1944. A cikin 1944, ya ci tsohon Mataimakin Gwamna Francis E. Kelly ya zama babban lauya. Barnes ya sake kayar da Kelly a 1946, amma ya rasa shi a 1948. Ya kasance dan takarar gwamna a 1950, amma ya rasa ga Arthur W. Coolidge. Barnes ya kuma kasance wakili ne a taron Jam'iyyar Republican na kasa a 1940, 1944,
1948, da kuma 1952.