After campaigning in Superior and Baraboo this weekend as a Harris campaign surrogate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to rally voters in Milwaukee Monday around guaranteed health care and wealth inequality.
“We ain’t far-leftists. What we are talking about is exactly what the American people want,” Sanders said to a room of about 200 people at Power to the Polls headquarters on the northwest side of Milwaukee. “The American people want to be able to walk into a doctor’s office, not worrying about the bill.”
While Sanders made stops on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Saturday, his Monday rally was organized by groups representing union members and seniors, including the League of Progressive Seniors, SEIU Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Working Families Party and Souls to the Polls, a voting advocacy group.
Before asking attendees to stand up and share their experiences with health care costs and burnout at work, Sanders promoted Harris’ plan to cancel billions in medical debt and the Biden administration’s efforts to lower prices for prescription drugs.
“Wisconsin will be decided by a few thousand votes. You can make the difference whether Kamala wins or loses. If Kamala loses Wisconsin, there’s a reasonable chance we’ll lose the country, we’ll lose the election,” Sanders said. “Do everything you can to make sure she wins.”
Sanders visits kick off busy campaign week in Wisconsin
Sanders’ rally comes as a busy campaign week in Wisconsin begins. First lady Jill Biden will campaign in Madison tonight, while vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz makes stops in Eau Claire and Green Bay this afternoon. Harris will return to Wisconsin on Thursday for stops in La Crosse, Green Bay and Milwaukee.
The Trump campaign has not yet announced any rallies this week in Wisconsin, though Trump recently held several events in a span of a few days in Juneau, Dane County and Milwaukee.
In a statement responding to Sanders’ stops in Baraboo and Superior, Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming said, “Wisconsin Democrats are doubling down on disaster by putting socialist Senator Bernie Sanders on tour.” Former President Donald Trump’s campaign also weighed in on Sanders’ visit.
“Can you name a more out of touch duo to Wisconsinites than Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris? While Wisconsinites are suffering from historic inflation, Bernie is stumping for dangerously liberal Kamala, who wouldn’t change ‘a thing’ for Wisconsin families,” Jacob Fischer, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.
‘A thing’ refers to Harris’ reluctance to name something she would have done differently than President Joe Biden. She has responded to the question by pledging to include a Republican in her Cabinet.
Social Security age eligibility a focus at earlier event
Earlier in the day, Sanders spoke to the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, an activist group that advocates for older Americans and unions. Attendees criticized calls for raising the age some workers could qualify for Social Security benefits.
Ross Winklbauer, the group’s president, said raising the retirement age could cause current workers to lose thousands of dollars if they can’t start collecting in their mid-60s as current retirees do.
“We have been fighting to keep Social Security and Medicare and protect our pensions,” Winklbauersaid to several hundred in attendance. “Republicans have said they are not interested in supporting these programs. So today we’re here to fight for Social Security to be protected, expanded and modernized.”
Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde has rejected claims he wants to cut Social Security but has said he favors raising the eligibility age to receive those benefits for workers under 40 to account for longer life expectancy and to sustain the program. Hovde is campaigning against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
“Eric Hovde has been clear. No senior retired or nearing retirement age would lose their Social Security benefits, but many seniors blame Tammy Baldwin and Sanders for backing the Biden-Harris economic agenda that ushered in one of the worst inflationary periods of their lifetime,” Zach Bannon, Hovde campaign spokesman, said in a statement.
Sanders called for expanding Social Security, funded by taxing the wealthiest citizens more.
Polling shows slight advantage for Harris among older voters, union members
Sanders’ visits come as polling shows a close race between Harris and Trump in Wisconsin. The latest Marquette University Law School poll showed Harris with a four-point lead over Trump, still within the margin of error.
The last three rounds of Marquette polls show Harris has a slight edge among older voters and union households in Wisconsin, key voting blocs that Sanders aimed to mobilize Monday.
Adding together those three polls, 51% of voters ages 60 and older supported Harris. Among voters who are 70 or older, 55% back Harris. Poll respondents who were union members supported Harris 50% to Trump’s 49%. And among respondents who had another member of the household who is in a union, 54% supported Harris to Trump’s 46%.
Surrogates, including former President Barack Obama, have also ramped up outreach to Black voters over concerns of lagging turnout. In the last three rounds of Marquette polls of Wisconsin voters, 83% of Black respondents backed Harris.
“We all do know a few people who are still trying to figure out what they’re going to do in 22 days,” said Mandela Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin and current president of Power to the Polls. “We know that our voice means the most to them because these are the folks we love, the folks we care about.”
More:Wisconsin voter ID law still causing confusion, stifles turnout in Milwaukee, voting advocates say
Sanders also held several rallies with unions in June, aiming to reverse declining enthusiasm among Democrats while President Joe Biden was still in the race. He spoke at United Auto Workers halls in Mount Pleasant and Sheboygan, and Plumbers and Steamfitters United Association Local 400 in Kaukauna.
Last week, former Attorney General Eric Holder stumped for Harris at Teamsters Local 344 in West Allis. Joint Council 39 President Bill Carroll acknowledged some members of the union support Trump, but the union still sees Harris as the best candidate for labor.
More:Despite endorsement, Wisconsin Teamsters’ rank-and-file not solidly behind Kamala Harris
More:Teamsters chief’s RNC speech turned heads. Here’s the take from union nemesis Scott Walker
Alexis Hamilton, a CNA and member of SEIU Wisconsin, which has endorsed Harris, said she resonates with Harris’ message that working families should “not just get ahead, but to be comfortable.” Hearing from candidates and surrogates who come to Milwaukee helps educate voters, she said, rather than just hearing advertisements on TV.
“We’re out here every day, knocking on doors, making phone calls, recruiting people, because this is very important,” she said, noting that a lot of Milwaukee voters are undecided.
