Bernie Sanders Is Hitting Donald Trump Where It Hurts [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

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The list includes Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Sanders has visited them all in recent weeks—along with Indiana, a Republican-leaning state that Barack Obama won in 2008 and that strategists believe could be competitive in 2020.

As Sanders says, “You’ve got to show up.” That’s especially true in Wisconsin, where Democratic presidential nominees won in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012.

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On April 12, Sanders delivered a fierce rebuke to the president’s approach at an outdoor rally in Madison that, despite blustery weather, drew several thousand supporters. Sanders plans to keep coming back to Wisconsin and other fall battleground states. But it’s what he and his supporters are doing when he is outside the state that could be one of the savviest strategic moves of the 2020 election cycle. While most other Democratic campaigns are focusing messaging and campaign spending on key primary and caucus states, the Sanders camp is turning energy and resources toward the Great Lakes states where Trump is already campaigning.

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The senator was referencing job losses in the valley caused by the closures of Shopko department stores and the downsizing of Kimberly-Clark Corp. factories. Sanders also took a shot at the fiasco that has played out since Trump and former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker promised the Taiwan-based technology firm Foxconn $3 billion in state subsidies (now closer to $4.5 billion) in return for a wildly optimistic promise to create 13,000 jobs in southeast Wisconsin. As the company sent mixed signals about actually following through on its commitments, Walker’s already ailing 2018 reelection campaign stumbled, and he was defeated by Democrat Tony Evers.

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https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-trump-midwest/