Gov. Tony Evers said he was "jazzed as hell" to welcome VP Kamala Harris to Wisconsin. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is joining fellow Democratic governors on a bus tour this week across the Midwest to talk to voters about the plans Vice President Kamala Harris has for creating jobs and lowering the cost of living for families.

The “Driving Forward” blue wall bus tour is starting off in Wisconsin Monday where Evers will join Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The tour will include special guests such as Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who will join the governors in Green Bay.

This is the first time Evers is scheduled to appear as a Harris surrogate. In an television interview during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Evers said he believes Harris has a better chance of winning Wisconsin than President Joe Biden did. “I think she’s engaged young people, and I anticipate that campuses across the state will be … active politically,” Evers said. “I do think Joe Biden could have won Wisconsin. It would have been by a smaller amount that he made it before. I think Kamala Harris or win by much more than that.”

Over the course of six days, concluding in Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro, Whitmer said she plans to make sure every Midwesterner knows that former President Donald Trump would drive the economy into the ground if given the chance. The best choice for Midwesterners in November is the Harris-Walz ticket, Whitmer said in a statement from her Fight Like Hell PAC.

“Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have lived lives like ours in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Their priority is lowering families’ costs, cutting taxes for the middle class, and creating more good American jobs here at home,” Whitmer said. “Donald Trump is only looking out for himself and his wealthy friends.”

Making note of Project 2025, the 900-plus-page right-wing blueprint outlining plans for Trump’s second term, Whitmer said Trump is seeking unchecked power that would trash economic opportunities for the working class.

Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are all part of the blue wall, which is made of more than a dozen states that have voted Democratic in presidential elections since at least 1992. All three states flipped for Trump in 2016 and flipped again for Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020. All three states are being heavily wooed by Harris and Trump in 2024.

For Pennsylvania, Trump’s chaos is unwelcome and gets in the way of the progress happening in Democratic states, Shapiro said in a statement from the Fight Like Hell PAC.

“Democratic Governors know how to get stuff done and deliver real results – we’ve cut taxes and reduced costs for our constituents, invested in public safety, opened up the doors of opportunity, and protected our fundamental rights and freedoms,” Shapiro said. “We need Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the White House because they’ll be our partners in that work to expand economic opportunity and advance real freedom, bringing people together behind common sense solutions for the American people.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

Sen. Bernie Sanders at a rally in Ann Arbor, March 8, 2020 | Andrew Roth

In November’s presidential election, where the results will likely come down to a few thousand votes in battleground states like Michigan, Bernie Sanders told the Michigan Advance on Saturday that the 2023 United Auto Workers (UAW) strike has played a key role in mobilizing voters.

Sanders, who stood in Detroit alongside union leaders on day one of the UAW’s historic six-week strike against the “Big Three” Detroit automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — said in a phone interview that the union’s success sent a clear message to politicians that the that the status quo for the working class is “not acceptable.”

“What the UAW did is, I think not only win a very good contract for its own members, but it inspired millions and millions of working class people all over this country,” Sanders said, noting polling during the strike reflected majority support from Americans for striking workers across automotive plants around the country.

And as wages have stagnated, while salaries for CEOs rise, the issue of “corporate greed” speaks to voters in the middle class, Sanders said. Vice President Kamala Harris understands that and is responding to it, he said, while former President Donald Trump touts anti-union policies and viewpoints.

“It’s not just the UAW; not just the automobile industry. It’s happening in virtually every sector of our country. The very rich are becoming much richer; working families are struggling. We’ve got to stand up and fight back. That’s what the UAW did, and I think they galvanized a number of other unions to do the same,” Sanders said. “Young people want to get into unions. Unions are now historically popular, so I think UAW played a very, very important role.”

The Advance asked Sanders about one of the biggest unions in the country with 1.3 million members, the Teamsters, abstaining from endorsing either Trump or Harris and the International Association of Fire Fighters following suit.

But those are only two unions, Sanders said, adding that dozens of other unions have strongly put their support behind Harris who walked with striking UAW workers in 2019 while Trump visited a non-union plant in Macomb County during the 2023 strike.

“I think the choice is pretty clear in terms of who is supporting unions,” Sanders said.

Sanders and Harris are former political rivals who both sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. But while Sanders said they don’t agree on everything, they agree on enough for him to travel to swing states to garner support for her campaign.

“What I learned from her is that she is very, very smart, and she is very focused, and she’s very tough. She’s a very impressive individual and I think she would make a great president,” Sanders said. “I hope that she may have learned that there are many, many millions of people in this country, the richest country on Earth, who are struggling financially, and that it’s important to respond to the needs of those people and hear their pain, and that it is immoral that we are living in an economy in which so few have so much wealth.”

On the drive between speaking engagements in Warren and Saginaw on Saturday, Sanders told the Michigan Advance he has hope for young people flexing their voting power in November. To that end, he’ll be talking with Michigan State University students on Sunday.

Students at universities across the country, including in Michigan, have been the epicenter for public protest against the war in Gaza, with pro-Palestinian encampments cropping up in campuses and criminal charges levied against protesters at the University of Michigan.

And it’s been a potent issue in Michigan, with 100,000 voters voting “Uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary this winter instead of for President Joe Biden, before Harris became the party’s nominee.

In 2020, Michigan’s 16 electoral votes weren’t won by much more than that, as Biden triumphed in the state by about 154,000 votes.

Many members of Michigan’s large Arab-American community have railed against Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war that’s raged for almost a year and continue to demand that Harris take a more aggressive stance, like committing to stop aid to Israel.

Although Israel had a right to defend itself from the Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack, Sanders said, the U.S. should not be offering military assistance to Israel when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone to “war against the entire Palestinian people.”

“While I have strongly supported the domestic agenda of the Biden administration, the President and I have a very strong disagreement on that,” Sanders said. “Even on that issue, Trump will be worse. I think you have Republicans who are not even prepared to support humanitarian aid [to] the children who are starving, who are injured. … And I would hope that even though there is disappointment in the Biden administration on Gaza and I understand that, I’m sympathetic to that, I think the choice still remains clear, that we’ve got to support Kamala and defeat Donald Trump.”

What’s encouraging to see is that the younger generation, in particular, is demanding progressive and just policies that benefit the average person, Sanders said. Although young people have, in recent history, risen up against racism, sexism and homophobia, he said, the current young generation is “probably the most progressive younger generation in the history of this country.”

“They have been in the forefront in fighting to transform our energy system and save the planet from climate change. So it is a great generation of young people, but … you cannot implement what you believe if you’re not involved in the political process and if you are not voting,” Sanders said.

In 2022, Michigan voters ages 18 to 29 turned out at a rate of about 37% in the November election, higher than any other state in the country. Fellow battleground state Wisconsin led the charge with even younger voters, with nearly half of eligible voters under the age of 25 voting in November 2022. In both cases, the elections were marked by large victories by Democratic candidates in statewide elections.

Even still, youth voter turnout is not a sure thing, as about 60% of people aged 18 to 29 in Michigan who registered to vote didn’t cast a ballot in 2022.

The Harris campaign is showing up in states, partnering with local and statewide leaders, to make their message clear to different corners of the country, Sanders said.

Young people need to understand that what they believe needs to be heard on Election Day, as the threat of climate change could dismantle the future and the government gets in the way of women’s health care. Sanders said he wants young people to understand Trump believes climate change is a hoax and that the government should have a say in reproductive health care while Harris is fighting for young people’s future.

But young voters have to throw the first punch in November.

“I would hope that as young people look at the important issues — women’s rights, civil rights, the climate, income and wealth inequality, higher education and the cost of health care — on all of those issues, Kamala Harris is far, far superior to Donald Trump, and I hope young people come out and vote and make the difference in this election,” Sanders said.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.