Independent Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan visited the Overture Center Monday to encourage Wisconsinites to vote early for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The politicians were met with boisterous cheers as they urged voters to bring their family and friends to the polls to help increase voter turnout.
“What happens in 50 states doesn't matter, what happens in 10 states does matter, and what happens in Wisconsin matters very, very much," Sanders said.
The Daily Cardinal spoke with Sanders before the event about gender as a central division in Gen Z politics and Harris’ plan for the economy.
The following has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Harris has advocated for a higher minimum wage, something Biden ran on in 2020. Since Biden has entered office the minimum wage federally has remained $7.25, why should the American public believe a Harris presidency will actually change anything?
As the author of the minimum wage bill, I know a little bit of something about it. We brought to the floor a $15 an hour minimum wage two years ago. I think we did not get one Republican vote, and we ended up with 42 votes.
We tried, right? And we're going to try again, and I think we're going to do much better this time, but we have made an effort to raise the minimum wage.
What makes you think that you're going to do better this time around?
Every state in the country that has had a minimum wage ballot item has passed, including conservative states like Florida, Nebraska. I think you're going to begin to have some Republican support for it, and I think far more Democratic support. We should have a united Democratic Party, and I hope to get 10 Republican votes as well.
Donald Trump, a multi-billionaire, thinks that we should keep the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour and millions of workers to work for starvation wages.
The gender divide is a prominent topic in this election, yet neither candidate directly addresses gender in relation to themselves. However, since 2020, young men have drifted towards Trump while young women surged for Harris. What does this suggest about the GOP’s strategy, and how much it shapes dynamics of gender in Gen Z politics?
I think many young men, for a wide variety of reasons, are not doing well economically right now. We're seeing more women going to college, for example, and in the trades that many of the young men are going through, the wages are not particularly high.
I think what we have got to do is talk to those young men and just say, “Should we raise the minimum wage to a living wage?” They will say yes. “Should we guarantee health care to all people as a right?” They will say yes. “Should we lower the cost of prescription drugs?” They will say yes. “Should we build more affordable housing, lower the cost of rent?” They will say yes. I think what we need is a strong progressive agenda which speaks to women, speaks to men, to the old and the young.
Harris has proposed a “Medicare at home” program. What would this bill cover and how would it work?
It's a very important development, and you're right, we have not seen enough. I wish she would talk about it more. What she proposes to do is to expand Medicare to cover home health care, hearing and vision.
Right now in this country, there are probably millions of seniors and people with disabilities who would prefer to stay in their own home, but are being forced to go into nursing homes because they can't attract the help that they need in their own homes. What she is doing is saying they can't find that help, because it's expensive, they can't afford it.
By having Medicare covered, people will be able to spend their time at home with their family, their loved ones, rather than be forced into a nursing home. There are also a whole lot of seniors who cannot afford hearing aids. This will cover hearing aids, glasses and vision care. This will cover that as well. It's a very important step forward when you talk about economic issues.
Another issue out there, that's very important: today, it's hard to raise a kid, and what Kamala is proposing is a permanent extension of the Child Tax Credit, which will go a long way to lower childhood poverty, putting money into the pockets of working parents to help them raise their kids. That is a big deal. She's also talking about forgiving medical debt. A lot of people are struggling with medical debt. She wants to move to forgive that. So, those are some of the important provisions in her economic agenda.
Harris’ plan includes a $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. What would you say to young people who are doubtful that they can even afford to buy a home even with the assistance?
She's also talking about building three million units of affordable housing, and I was impressed, to be honest with you, that as soon as she came out of the gate as a Democratic nominee, probably the first thing she talked about was affordable housing and the need to build more housing units in this country.
I don't know about Madison, but I do know that in Vermont, and many parts of this country, we have a serious housing crisis that is not only homelessness, it's people paying 50-70% of their limited income housing. We need more housing. We need to lower the cost of housing, and I think she has a plan to do that.
It will be a major step forward, three million units. It's not a small amount of housing, but we've got to do other things as well. We have to change the law so we can build more low-income housing. I think we have to move to sustainably affordable housing through community housing land trusts. There's a lot that we have to do, but building three million units is good stuff.
Tomer Ronen is the Features Editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, state politics, sports and more. Follow him on Twitter at @TRonen22.
