Bernie Sanders encourages voting in Oshkosh

OSHKOSH, WI – (WGBW & WISS) – Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont appealed to the voters of Oshkosh at the Culver Family Welcome Center on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Campus on Monday afternoon. He said the choice forward in the Presidential election is Vice President Kamala Harris. 

“It’s a question of whether we bring our people together. We have civil discourse; you disagree with me? So what! That’s democracy. But we don’t have to hate each other because of the color of our skin or where we were born,” Sanders told a crowd of about 350 people. 

Sanders called out the divisiveness, sexism, and racism displayed during the Donald J. Trump rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.

“They did what demagogues always do. Try to divide us up. Based on your religion. Sometimes, you know, they’re anti-semitic. Sometimes they’re anti-Muslim. Based on your gender. What we heard last night was vulgar sexism. ‘She’s a woman. Should she really be President of the United States?’ And sometimes it’s where you were born. You speak another language,” Sanders said. “Divide, divide divide. Because they understand one fundamental truth. That if we bring our people together, around an agenda that works for all of us and not just a few, we can transform this country.”

Some of the policies of a Harris/Walz administration Sanders called out were health care reform, a national minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, union support and a uniform health care system, like Medicare for all. 

“Sixty thousand Americans die unnecessarily every year. Because they don’t have the money to get to a doctor when they should,” Sanders said. “Think that is what America is supposed to be about? I don’t.” 

Sanders said the least we can do is expand Medicare to cover home health care, dental work, hearing aids, and eyeglasses until Medicare for all becomes a reality.

“We’ve got eight days left in this enormously consequential campaign. It’s important from an economic perspective, so important from democracy perspective, and so important for women’s rights; from a climate change perspective. Do everything you can,” Sanders said. “You can make a difference, really. It makes a difference in an election that could be so very close.” 

Sanders is just one of the campaign surrogates campaigning in and around the Badger State. He joined Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. This was his second visit to the Fox Valley. He was in Kaukauna in the early summer to appeal to union voters. 

Former President Bill Clinton will be campaigning for Democrats up and down the ballot on Thursday. 

Across the aisle, Former President Donald Trump will be in Ashwaubenon at the Resch Center at 6 PM on Wednesday evening. JD Vance was in Wausau and Racine on Monday.