Democratic VP candidate Tim Walz stumps in Superior to mobilize voters

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rallied supporters at the University of Wisconsin- Superior on Saturday in his first visit to northern Wisconsin as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, urging Democrats to mobilize voters for the Harris-Walz campaign.

The Minnesota governor’s visit to Superior capped off a three-day campaign blitz to boost voter support in battleground states with stops in Wausau and cities in Michigan.

With 52 days left to go until Election Day, the running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to crowd of supporters about access to health care, abortion rights, infrastructure investments and policies to lift the middle class.

Walz said the election would be a “margin-of-error race” that would be won by supporters knocking on doors and having hard conversations in a handful of states, including Wisconsin.

“For all of you here, all gas, no brake. Fifty-two days to get the work done,” Walz said. “Sleep when you’re dead.”

He stressed the outcome of the race against former President Donald Trump would have a lasting impact on their futures, repeatedly citing policy items from Project 2025. Trump has tried to distance himself from the blueprint for the next Republican administration.

Walz also sought to capitalize on a strong debate performance this week by Harris against Trump. He said she commanded the room and that the former president showed his true colors. The Democratic vice presidential nominee said Trump should be disqualified from running for denying the results of the 2020 election.

Walz and Democrats are also using the issue of abortion access to motivate voter turnout. Trump has faced scrutiny for his role in appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in a landmark 2022 decision. Walz detailed his own personal struggle to have children with his wife, Gwen, who underwent the fertility treatment intrauterine insemination. He said Republicans are eroding personal choice and freedoms.

“The golden rule that makes everything work better is: mind your own damn business,” Walz said.

Outside the rally, Superior resident Bridget Golden said she’s drawn to the Minnesota governor’s dedication to women’s rights even though she opposes abortion on a personal level.

“I’m against abortion, but it was the law of the land,” Golden said. “People need it because it is health care.”

Gwen Walz was present at the rally. She and others pressed a message that her husband and Harris and share values of looking out for one another, and touted their middle-class upbringings.

UW-Superior student Isabella Lyste of Barron said the Harris-Walz campaign would deliver for working families.

“They will fight to lower costs and protect our fundamental freedoms, including my right to choose whether and when to start a family,” Lyste said.

Gov. Walz touted the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, adding that he and Harris have pledged to protect programs like Social Security and Medicare. The Democratic vice presidential nominee also targeted Trump on tax cuts, saying his plan only benefitted billionaires.

“He will do it again, and bigger. So let’s be very clear, when he does that, it cuts out opportunities for all the rest of us,” Walz said.

Walz highlighted Harris’ proposal to support middle-class families by pledging to build 3 million homes through a tax incentive to developers and $25,000 for first-time homebuyers.

While Walz said Trump talked a “tough game” on infrastructure, Minnesota’s governor said Harris got it done with a nod to the Blatnik Bridge replacement. President Joe Biden visited Superior in January to mark a roughly $1 billion investment for the project under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The latest poll from the Marquette University Law School shows Harris with a 4-point lead over Trump in Wisconsin. Among registered voters, Harris drew 52 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Trump in the latest survey.

Superior Mayor Jim Paine echoed Walz’s remarks that it’s going to be a close election.

“I know you are all worried about the possibility of another Trump presidency, but folks,that’s not what this campaign is about. The Trump years are over. That’s the past,” Paine said. “We’re done with it, and we’re not going back.”

Janie Grube, 65, and her wife, Sandy Stark, recently moved to Superior from an area surrounding El Paso, Texas. Grube said Harris is “my gal” because she said it’s time for a woman in the White House.

“Women have multi-tasked all of their lives — raising children, working a full time job, taking care of a household,” Grube said. “Why not taking care of the United States of America?”

Wisconsin has been a major focal point of both campaigns, and Trump rallied in central Wisconsin last week. The previous two presidential elections were decided by about 20,000 votes. Trump won the state in 2016; Biden won Wisconsin in 2020.

GOP lawmakers target Harris-Walz on immigration, border security

Ahead of the Minnesota governor’s visit, Wisconsin GOP Chair Brian Schimming along with U.S. House Reps. Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden targeted Harris and Walz on immigration and border security. The latest Marquette poll found Trump is seen as better on the issue than Harris among the state’s registered voters.

In a virtual press briefing Friday, Tiffany highlighted the Sept. 5 arrest of a 26-year-old man in Prairie du Chien who lacks permanent legal status.

“We had a person that was beat up by a Venezuelan gang member that came across the border in El Paso a year ago on Kamala Harris’ watch in Minneapolis. That person was stopped for a crime, and because Minneapolis is a sanctuary city, a detainer was not issued to ICE to remove that person from the country, went on to commit a crime spree in Madison, ended up in Prairie du Chien,” Tiffany said. “This is happening across America.”

Prairie du Chien Police booked Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate into Crawford County Jail for two counts of sexual assault and domestic battery and one count each of  strangulation/suffocation and physical abuse to a child. Police say they’re “more confident” about Zarate’s affiliation with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua due to interviews, tattoos and consultation with federal law enforcement.

Trump and his supporters have seized on the case to attack the Harris-Walz campaign on the issue of immigration and stoke fears of violent crime.

“Our American citizens are being kidnapped, raped and murdered by illegal aliens, and the blame for this lies solely on the Harris border czar regime, and it has to stop,” Van Orden said.

Even so, Van Orden noted Wisconsin farms would struggle tremendously without the state’s Hispanic workforce, saying it’s about illegal immigration.

While high-profile violent crimes have occurred, research shows immigrants lacking permanent legal status have lower felony arrest rates for violent, drug and property crimes compared to people born in America. Studies have also found immigrants are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than those born in the U.S.

During last week’s debate, Trump also claimed immigrants in Ohio were kidnapping and eating pets. City officials say there’s no evidence to support such claims.