Gov. Tony Evers and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appeared in Madison Tuesday night to highlight the crucial role Midwesterners will play in the 2024 election and rally voters to elect Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“There are 320 million people in the country that are counting on us,” Evers said.
Midwestern swing states are crucial to determining the winner of the next presidential election. If Harris edges out former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania while holding onto all likely Democratic states, she will win the election.
Whitmer said reaching out to all voters, including those in Republican-led districts, is important for Democrats to win Wisconsin and Michigan in November.
“We can’t write off anybody, we gotta show up in the reddest areas,” Whitmer said.
Evers told The Daily Cardinal having Democratic governors in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania has been “important” in rallying swing voters ahead of the election.
Whitmer added that trying to tackle issues such as free student lunches, affordable housing, gun safety laws and abortion rights on the state level has shown voters what Democratic leadership can look like. She believes this will directly translate into support for Democrats at the ballot box in November.
“When people here in Wisconsin see all the great things that Gov. Evers has been able to get done, they understand that is what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will do on the national level,” Whitmer told the Cardinal.
The governors’ stop in Madison was part of a statewide bus tour for the Harris-Walz campaign. The bus made previous stops Tuesday in Hudson, Eau Claire, La Crosse and Portage, and on Monday, Evers and Whitmer joined Walz for a rally in Green Bay. Evers told reporters during the event that he plans to join Whitmer in Michigan to rally voters there as well.
Attendees urge Wisconsinites to vote in 2024 election
Enthusiastic rally attendees emphasized the importance of voting in the upcoming election. With the last election being decided by a 20,000-vote margin, voters stressed the stakes of democracy, abortion rights and the economy.
Attendee Ean Ramos, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1473, encouraged people to vote for “the people that are going to care for your friends and your family, not just what you need or want.”
Ramos stressed that rather than taking away someone’s rights, you can give them more protections and benefits.
Students have noticed a rise in enthusiasm on their campus correlated with political figures making appearances in Madison. Joey Wendtland, chair for the University of Wisconsin-Madison College Democrats, told the Cardinal these events excite people and that “people pay attention when they come,” recalling a moment from a Harris visit to Madison last month where students cheered at the sight of his campaign signs in support of Harris.
Liam Byrnes, a UW-Madison law student, expressed excitement to see “real leaders” from the Democratic Party, like Evers and Whitmer, working toward turning their states blue in this election.
Byrnes doesn’t believe in telling students how they should vote, but he said that part of getting an education is making informed decisions related to key political issues.
“A lot of the norms that we have, especially in terms of the rule of law and a lot of constitutional rights, are really at stake,” Byrnes said. “It is a privilege to live in a democracy like this. Especially for folks who are from out of state, your vote has truly never meant more than in a big swing state and swing election like this.”
The Harris campaign’s fight to win Wisconsin continues with plans for the vice president to visit Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay on Thursday. Former President Barack Obama will visit Madison on Tuesday to energize voters and kick off the first day of early voting in Wisconsin.
Iain Chang is a senior staff writer at The Daily Cardinal covering state news and politics.
