Sanders fires up crowd at UWM rally
Democrats lambast Trump, call for Wisconsinites’ support
He’s 77 years old and still one of the biggest political draws on college campuses.
Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont came to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Monday and gave a fiery speech to ignite Democrats ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm election.
Sanders called out President Donald Trump, praised Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Tony Evers, Mandela Barnes and Randy Bryce and urged students and others to get out to vote.
“In this election, 2018, we have learned our lesson,” Sanders said. “We’re not going to have the lowest midterm voter turnout in history, we’re going to have the highest.”
Sanders said the “young generation” is the “most progressive in the country.”
“Your generation cares deeply about the health of the planet and climate change,” he said. “But all of that decency, all of that love, all of that concern doesn’t mean anything if you don’t come out to vote.”
“Mark my words on this, if the younger generation, people under 30, vote at the same level as the rest of the population, you will transform the United States of America,” he said.
Sanders ran for president in 2016 and won the state’s Democratic primary. He may run again in 2020. He already visited the state once this midterm cycle, headlining a rally for Baldwin in Eau Claire in July.
Democrats are making a full-court press in the closing weeks of the campaign as Baldwin, the incumbent Democratic U.S. senator, faces Republican Leah Vukmir, Evers and Barnes take on Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, and Bryce meets Republican Bryan Steil in the 1st Congressional District, where House Speaker Paul Ryan did not seek re-election.
Republicans will look to get a boost Wednesday when President Donald Trump headlines an airport rally in Mosinee, while Democrats counter Friday in Milwaukee with a rally featuring former President Barack Obama.
As the crowd chanted his name, Sanders said, “It ‘ain’t Bernie; it is you.”
Sanders called Trump “a pathological liar” claiming the president said one thing in the campaign on issues like health care, prescription drug prices and Wall Street, and has done the opposite while in office.
“Trump, you are not taking on the establishment, you are part of the billionaire establishment,” Sanders said.
Sanders said: “This country has struggled with discrimination and racism and sexism and homophobia for too long. Mr. Trump, we are not going backwards, we are going forward.”
Sanders said ideas he supported during his presidential campaign two years ago, which were called by some as “radical and extreme,” are now in the mainstream. Among the ideas he ticked off: a $15-an-hour minimum wage; tuition-free colleges and universities; and a singlepayer health care system called “Medicare for all.”
Baldwin gave her familiar campaign speech revolving around the idea that “Washington is a mess,” that is “not working for Wisconsin, for you, your families or communities.”
“That’s why I’m working so hard to put Wisconsin first,” she said.
Baldwin called Vukmir “a bought-andpaid-for candidate” of special interests and said that “over her 16-year record as a politician,” Vukmir “has consistently stood with insurance companies.”
“It’s all about Wisconsin values,” Evers said, adding: “We’re going to fund education in the state of Wisconsin.”
He said Walker has brought the state low wages and “we’re going to $15 an hour minimum.”
Evers also promised a 10 percent tax cut for middle-income workers.
Bryce sought to portray his Republican rival Bryan Steil, as the hand-picked replacement of Ryan.
“My opponent refers to me as radical Randy,” Bryce said. “My 12-year-old son thinks it’s kind of cool.”
Bryce said he didn’t think it’s radical for people to have access to health care, good-paying jobs and environmental protections.
Cynthia Wilder, a school teacher, was at the rally with her younger daughter. During the 2016 election, Wilder voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and general election but was keenly interested to hear Sanders.
“I’m all set, ready to go,” Wilder said about the election.
Jahaya Kahmanne, a UWM senior, said he was at the rally because he received a text that Sanders was in Milwaukee.
“Bernie Sanders, Tammy Baldwin, Tony Evers, they’re all here,” Kahmanne said. “I figured, why not check it out?”
Lindsey Stafford, a UWM freshman who just turned 18, was thrilled to be at the rally and was excited to vote for the first time.
“It’s great to be old enough to be involved in this type of event,” she said.
Republicans criticized Sanders’ appearance and ripped his Medicare-for-all proposal.
Vukmir campaign manager Jess Ward said Baldwin “stands with socialist Bernie Sanders, who supports BaldwinCare that will end Medicare, Medicare Advantage and employer-provided health insurance for 3.4 million Wisconsinites, forcing everyone into government-run health care. It seems counter-productive that Baldwin’s solution to health care begins with destroying care for our seniors. So much for keeping your doctor.”
Steil campaign spokesman Andrew Iverson said: “Randy Bryce continues to run a campaign focused on anywhere but southeast Wisconsin. Whether it’s abolishing ICE or a $32 trillion government takeover of health care, Randy Bryce supports Bernie Sanders’ socialist agenda that will raise taxes on Wisconsin families and concentrate power in Washington, D.C.”