Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, in his final pre-primary visit to a city that helped launch his White House bid, made his closing call for support on Tuesday’s presidential ballot.
Sanders spoke to a crowd of 4,400 at the Kohl Center on the UW-Madison campus Sunday night. It was his third stop in nine days in Madison, where he hopes a robust turnout among students and progressives will power his campaign to a win in Wisconsin, where most polls show him with a narrow lead.
The state is regarded nationally as one he must win to preserve a path to victory against his Democratic rival and the current front-runner, Hillary Clinton.
Sanders’ remarks Sunday had a decidedly Badger State bent. He repeatedly hammered Republican Gov. Scott Walker, targeting his handling of the state’s schools, colleges and universities and his signature on a law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls.
“Here in Wisconsin, probably the easiest way to define a Bernie Sanders presidency ... would be to to tell you it would be pretty much the opposite of a Scott Walker administration,” Sanders said.
Sanders also voiced support for Judge Joanne Kloppenburg, the candidate favored by many progressives and Democrats over Justice Rebecca Bradley in the nonpartisan state Supreme Court race. That contest will share the ballot with the presidential candidates in Tuesday’s spring election. Bradley was Walker’s most recent appointee to the state high court.