Over the course of Friday night’s debate, Mary Burke and Gov. Scott Walker discussed a variety of topics, yet nearly every statement made by both candidates worked its way back to job creation and Wisconsin’s economy, and with good reason. As it stands today, Wisconsin lags behind much of the Midwest and much of the country in regard to job growth over the past four years. Consequently, both candidates have made their jobs plans focal points of their respective campaigns, each presenting very different approaches to getting Wisconsin’s economy back on track.

In short, Walker’s plan is nothing but more of the same policies that have kept Wisconsin’s economy from fully recovering from the recession of 2008. Over the last four years, Walker has focused his efforts on cutting taxes for the wealthiest Wisconsinites, jeopardizing Wisconsin’s natural resources and wasting taxpayer dollars on the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. He has simultaneously levied huge cuts to higher education and has turned down millions in federal assistance to expand Medicare and build a high-speed rail that would have created jobs and afforded thousands of Wisconsinites a faster commute to and from work. These poor decisions have not created jobs and, quite frankly, illustrate exactly why Walker will come up more than 100,000 jobs short of what he promised the people of Wisconsin when he was elected. It’s not working, and we need to hold Walker accountable Nov. 4.

Unlike Walker, Burke is a proven job creator, succeeding both as an executive at Wisconsin’s own Trek Bicycle, as well as Secretary of Commerce under Gov. Jim Doyle, where she oversaw a Wisconsin with a 4.8 percent unemployment rate, much better than the national average, and much better than what we are seeing under Walker. Furthermore, Burke’s plan for Wisconsin includes common sense policies that we know actually work. Burke wants to reinvest in Wisconsin’s fabulous universities and technical colleges because she knows how important affordable, high-quality higher education is when it comes to providing people with the chance to succeed. Additionally, Burke will prioritize and work with small businesses, which make up nearly 90 percent of our economy, not just huge multinational corporations looking for a tax break.

These priorities will create a Wisconsin where everyone can succeed and where all Wisconsinites have access to the American Dream, not just the select few. This is the Wisconsin we all deserve. As young people we owe it to ourselves to vote for the candidate whose vision is most likely to allow us to succeed and in this case, the choice is clear. Burke envisions a Wisconsin where college is more affordable and an economy where we can all flourish. We can all take the first step Nov. 4 toward making this Wisconsin’s reality by voting for gubernatorial candidate Burke for governor of the great state of Wisconsin.