Dear Friends,
I spent the last few days on the campaign trail for Kamala, Tim, and progressive candidates in the Midwest. It was a helluva trip. In four days we visited Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. A lot of large crowds and good energy.
Some observations.
On Friday, October 11 we began our campaign swing with a stop in Belvedere, Illinois before a fired up, standing room only crowd of UAW union workers. I was there with UAW President Shawn Fain, one of the outstanding progressive union leaders in America. As you’ll remember, last year the UAW went on strike against the Big 3 automakers and won an excellent contract. Now, Stellantis, one of the Big 3, is trying to renege on the commitment they made in that contract to re-open their plant in Belvedere and put thousands of their employees back to work. Our message at that meeting to Stellantis was simple. End corporate greed. Keep your promise. Re-open the plant.
Belvidere, Illinois
Later in the afternoon we flew into Dubuque, Iowa for another rally with union workers. In Dubuque, the John Deere company is continuing to lay off workers as they transfer production lines from the United States to Mexico where they hire workers at one-sixth of the wages they pay here. Like Stellantis, John Deere is making strong profits and giving their CEO a huge compensation package. Our demand to John Deere was straightforward. Stop outsourcing good paying American jobs.
Dubuque, Iowa
We finished the day with an evening get-out-the vote rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. The many hundreds of people there were quite clear and quite loud. We’re not going back! Kamala for President.
St. Paul, Minnesota
On Saturday we did two very well-attended rallies in rural Wisconsin. The day event was in Superior and the evening event was in Baraboo. My message at both events was: (a) we cannot have a pathological liar as President. Donald Trump is unfit to lead the country. That’s not just my opinion. That’s what Republicans Mike Pence, Dick Cheney, and Mitt Romney believe. (b) The progressive agenda is not radical. It’s what the American people overwhelmingly want. We must fight to create an economy and government that works for all, and not just the billionaire class.
Superior, Wisconsin
Baraboo, Wisconsin
On Sunday we continued our campaigning in rural areas. This time in Michigan. We started the day in Traverse City and ended with a large rally in Marquette. The folks at these rallies, young, old, and in-between, understand that the issues in this campaign are crystal clear. Women must be able to control their own bodies, not politicians. Climate change is real, not a “hoax.” Health care is a human right, not a privilege. We need to address the housing crisis which exists in virtually every area of the country.
Traverse City, Michigan
Marquette, Michigan
On Monday we ended our campaign swing with a couple of events in Milwaukee. First, I spoke at an Alliance for Retired Americans event. While we don’t discuss it much, many seniors in America are struggling. In fact, 25 percent of seniors are trying to survive on $15,000 or less. They can’t afford prescription drugs, health care or other basic necessities. Sadly, the U.S. has the highest rate of senior poverty of almost any wealthy nation. The seniors there were appreciative that Kamala intends to expand Medicare to cover home health care, hearing aids, and vision care.
The last event of this trip was with former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes and the Working Families Party of Wisconsin. The Working Families Party is doing an outstanding job in Wisconsin and around the country in organizing the working poor - Black, White, Latino, Asian - to stand up for their rights. What we heard at this meeting was distressing, but not surprising. We heard from low-income workers unable to afford to go to a doctor or get the dental care they need. People working 2 or 3 jobs at $14 an hour. Seniors in debt, and unable to pay it off because of high interest rates. Not a happy situation in the wealthiest country on earth.
On Monday night I was on a plane back to Burlington.
Thank you all for making these campaign events possible. Let’s continue to work hard and do everything we can to elect Kamala and Tim and create the kind of country we know we can become.
In solidarity,
Bernie
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