By Nora-Kathleen Berryhill
Oct. 31, 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Mark Pocan spoke to Wisconsin students at a virtual campaign event about the issues most at stake in the upcoming election. The Zoom event, hosted by UW-Madison, was part rally and part get-out-the-vote effort where attendees volunteered by making campaign calls to Wisconsin voters.
“We may be doing alright in the polls, but polls don’t vote, people vote,” Pocan said. He emphasized the importance of not only voting, but encouraging others to vote to help make a difference in battleground states like Wisconsin.
Pocan introduced Sanders as “America’s senator,” speaking to Sanders’s advocacy for progressive issues and for workers and working class families throughout the country.
Sanders focused initially on the issues of climate change, healthcare, infrastructure, education, and minimum wage, seeking to draw a sharp contrast between the Trump administration’s policies and policy proposals under the Biden-Harris ticket.
Both Sanders and Pocan underscored Biden’s plan to make public universities tuition free to students of households making under $125,000. They both noted that Wisconsin has one of the highest rates of student debt in the country and that Biden is considering policies which would cancel student debt nationwide.
At its heart, however, Sanders’s pitch to Wisconsin students and voters was less about policy platforms and more about “retaining American democracy” post-Trump. He continued with this focus on “a president who really does not believe in our constitution” and “a president who believes he is above the law.”
“This is the most important election in the modern history of this country, and in my view, it is imperative that we defeat Donald Trump because he is the most dangerous president that this country has ever had,” Sanders said.
Sanders described President Trump as a “pathological liar,” pointing to Trump’s statements about the pandemic which he said often contradict statements from public health officials and scientists.
He also stressed his concerns about voter disenfranchisement, citing Republican efforts to move up deadlines for mail-in voting and instances of voter intimidation as threats to American democracy. “They’re trying to make it harder for poor people, people of color, and young people to participate in the political process,” Sanders said.
Madeline Miner, a UW-Stevens Point student, helped instruct attendees of the rally who stayed to volunteer making calls through 2020Victory. Miner also directed attendees to use the VoteJoe app to reach out to friends, family, and community members: https://go.joebiden.com/page/s/vote-joe-app.
“I know that sometimes it’s uncomfortable badgering your friends to tell them to come out to vote. Well, you know what, you’re going to feel a little bit more uncomfortable if Trump wins Wisconsin by a handful of votes and that’s what you wake up to on Wednesday,” Sanders said.
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