Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include information about former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ taxation plans.
Former President Barack Obama and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke at the Alliant Energy Center on Tuesday, Oct. 22, the first day of early voting in Wisconsin, as they campaigned exactly two weeks before the 2024 Presidential Election.
Obama underscored the essential role of Wisconsin voters in the upcoming election. Obama encouraged early voting, saying he voted yesterday.
“If you haven’t voted yet, I won’t be offended if you just walk out right now,” Obama said. “Go vote.”
The former president expressed understanding towards Americans looking for change after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I understand why folks are looking to shake things up,” Obama said. “I get it. What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that’s good for you.”
Obama claimed former President Trump took credit for the economy he built for 75 months during his two-term presidency.
“Wisconsin, we do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guard rails,” Obama said. “America is ready to turn the page. We are waiting for a better story in Wisconsin. The good news is, Kamala Harris is ready for the job.”
The former president commended Vice President Kamala Harris as a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people needing a voice as a former prosecutor. He told the audience Harris knows what it is like to scrap, strive and work hard.
Obama denounced Trump’s plans on tax cuts saying the middle class could pay a higher income tax, while Trump and his “country club buddies” would benefit.
Trump’s tax proposals would, on average, lead to a tax increase for all income groups except the richest 5 percent of Americans. The middle fifth of Americans would see a tax increase of 2.1 percent of their income and the poorest fifth would see an increase of 4.8 percent, according to the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy. His proposals include extending the temporary provisions in Trump’s Tax Cuts and Job Act of 2017, exempting various types of income from taxes and reducing the corporate tax rate and repealing tax credits from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Harris’ proposed tax changes would raise taxes on the richest 1% of Americans while cutting taxes for all other income groups. This would be done through extending the temporary provisions in the Job Act fully for those with incomes of less than $400,000, enacting proposals related to raising children and obtaining health coverage, assisting service workers and making housing more affordable, reforming the taxes that fund Medicare, diminishing existing tax breaks on capital gains and dividends for those with incomes of more than $1 million and reforming the corporate tax code, according to the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy.
“He’s not thinking about you,” Obama said. “He sees power. He sees you as a means to his ends.”
Obama reminded the audience the upcoming election is not just about policies, but values and character. He described Trump’s rise in politics as disturbing, and said Trump seems to have set aside the values most people hold close.
Obama used Trump’s response to Hurricane Helene’s devastation as an example. Trump reportedly made false claims in late September when campaigning in Georgia, saying President Biden was “sleeping” and being unresponsive to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s calls when the opposite was true, according to the Associated Press. Obama claimed Trump’s actions caused harm to people in desperate situations and to the FEMA workers trying to help.
The former president concluded by telling the audience to not sit back and hope for the best, but to take action and vote.
“We’ll leave no doubt about the outcome of this election,” Obama said. “We will leave no doubt about who we are. We’ll send a message about what America stands for, and together, we will keep building a country that is more fair and more just and more equal and more free. That is our job. That is our responsibility.”
Walz, who spoke before Obama, began his address with a story about a recent visit to the high school he graduated from to give the football team a pep talk and joked he won’t be picking a side during Saturday’s Wisconsin v. Penn State game since the Harris-Walz campaign likely needs to win over both swing states to succeed in the election.
The Minnesota governor called out Trump’s recent campaign effort serving fries at McDonald’s, saying there’s something inappropriate about a billionaire using a lower-paying job Americans work as a political prop.
“His agenda lets big corporations not pay people for overtime and diminishes those very workers that he was cosplaying as,” Walz said.
Walz pointed to Project 2025, referring to it as the Trump administration’s plan. During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump said Project 2025 does not reflect his priorities and he has not read the document. But it shares ideologies and ideas with his official “Agenda 47” slate, according to the Associated Press.
The speech transitioned into gun regulations, with Walz reminding the audience that as a veteran and hunter, he is a gun owner. Vice President Kamala Harris is also a gun owner, he said.
“We can uphold the Second Amendment while being equally adherent to our first responsibility, protecting our kids,” Walz said.
Walz called on the men in the audience to think of the implication of a nationwide abortion ban for their daughters, wives and female relatives, claiming the lives of women are at stake in this election.
According to Walz, a lot is at stake and he encouraged the audience to vote early and campaign for Harris-Walz.
“There is one path to making sure we stop this guy … we have to do the work and have the courage and beat him at the ballot box in 14 days,” Walz said. “We’re still the underdogs in this and we know we’re going to leave it all on the field.”
Before speeches by Obama and Walz, Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler began the event by speaking to the importance of early voting and Wisconsin’s significance to the outcome of the election.
First-time voter and College Democrats of Madison Officer Nevaeh Jackson-Winters spoke to the organization’s efforts to register students on campus.
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis, echoed many of the main points of previous speakers, praising the Affordable Care Act and the Harris administration for picking Walz as her running mate.
Like Pocan, Emmy award-winning actor and Madison native Bradley Whitford incorporated humor while condemning Trump and U.S. Senate Candidate Eric Hovde’s character. His speech covered topics ranging from transgender rights to tax equity.
The actor dedicated a significant amount of time to speaking on abortion rights, shedding light on the case of Amber Nicole Thurman, a Georgia woman who bled to death in her car after being denied a dilation and curettage from a hospital. This procedure is now considered a felony in following the ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis, also spoke, addressing her opponent Eric Hovde’s alleged plans to cut Social Security and Medicaid and give tax cuts to big corporations and multimillionaires.
Gov. Tony Evers used his time to praise Kamala Harris for her work as the vice president.
The governor specifically mentioned Harris’ role in capping the price of insulin at $35, investment in infrastructure and “fixing the damn roads.”
“She has spent the last four years defending our democracy, fighting to protect our freedoms and working tirelessly to do the right thing,” Evers said.
