Obama Rallies Milwaukee Voters Ahead of 2022 Midterms

Former President Barack Obama came to Milwaukee on Saturday to energize young Wisconsin voters and strengthen the odds for Gov. Tony Evers in the governor’s race against Republican Tim Michels and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in the Senate race against Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.

Obama’s appearance was the latest stop in a series of rallies featuring the former president, who has been visiting swing states across the country in an effort to help Democrats turnout voters for the 2022 midterm elections on Nov. 8. The outcome of those elections will determine control of Congress and the fate of President Biden’s agenda. 

During Obama’s now viral speech, he pleaded with Milwaukee voters to deliver a turnout large enough to defeat the “out of touch” Republican candidates. 

“Make a plan, because you don’t want to sleep through the election,” he said. “I understand why you might want to tune out, but I’m here to tell you that tuning out, Milwaukee, is not an option.”

Democrats hope that Obama’s star power, and the choice to host the event in the 53206 zip code, known as “the most incarcerated zip code in America” for the number of arrests that occur, will increase turnout among the key constituencies of young voters and Black voters in numbers large enough to reverse current polling trends. 

“He’s not the one legislating, but I admire how he has campaigned for candidates,” rally-goer Amy Lepp said of the former president.

Lepp, 24, sees herself as a Democratic Socialist. In support of Barnes, she held a hand-drawn sign stating, “All I want for Christmas is a new senator.”

Barnes has struggled to maintain momentum as he heads into the final days of the election despite record fundraising numbers. In the first 19 days of October, Barnes raised $8.5 million — nearly three times the amount raised by Johnson in the same period. Still, the deficit has not stopped Johnson, who has ran a successful ad campaign painting Barnes as soft on crime.

A recent CNN poll released on Oct. 24 shows Johnson leading the Senate race between him and Barnes at 49%-50%, down from a one point lead for Barnes last month, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. Barnes is leading Johnson with independents by four points. 

According to a recent Marquette Law School poll, the governor’s race between Evers and Michels tightened up to a tie, with 47% support for Evers and 46% for Michels.

The former President took time to speak about some of the key concerns on voters’ minds like inflation, high gas prices and gun violence. 

Responding to Republican criticisms that blame inflation and high gas prices on the recent legislation passed by the Biden administration, Obama spoke about the impact of supply chain slowdowns caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine’s impact on the flow of gas from Russia. Other speakers addressed the role that corporate profiteering has played in increasing inflation. 

“They’re not interested in finding solutions,” Obama said. “They’re interested in making you mad.”

On the subject of gun violence, Obama took time to respond to Republican ads that paint Democrats as weak on crime. He noted that despite these attacks, it is Republican controlled states that have seen the highest uptick in crime. 

He also highlighted the work of Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Congresswoman Gwen Moore, who worked with President Joe Biden to strengthen gun laws and were present at the event. 

As candidates stood aside the stage, Obama painted Republicans as ineffective and praised Evers for being “tough,” reminding rally-goers that the Democratic governor has vetoed Republican bills on guns, education and abortion.

“These days, just about every Republican politician is obsessed with two things: owning the liberals and Donald Trump’s approval,” Obama said. “Tony Evers is obsessed with growing Wisconsin’s economy.”

Obama also touched on the “us versus them” messaging that many experts view as racial dog whistling which has been a feature of Republican ads, comparing the attacks he faced from the Republican Party in 2008 to Barnes’ experience today.

“Just because he’s a Democrat with a funny name, he must not be like you,” Obama said. “He must not share your values. We’ve seen this. It sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? So Mandela, get ready to dig up that birth certificate.”

This contrasted with Barnes’ speech, who noticeably avoided discussing race in such blunt terms, referring to a rise in systemic racism as “a rise in other things that kept people from getting ahead.”

In a sign of the highly polarized political climate, even the mention of Johnson and Michels was enough to elicit boos from the audience, prompting a line from Obama that has since gone viral. 

“Don’t boo — vote,” Obama said. “Don’t waste your vocal chords booing. Nobody can hear you boo outside this auditorium, but they’ll hear your vote.”

The crowd then began a “vote” chant, before Obama circled back to issues at hand.

Revisiting a popular refrain from his time in office, the former president spoke about Republican efforts to gut social programs like Social Security.

“Some of your parents are on Social Security,” Obama said. “Some of your grandparents are on Social Security. You know why they have Social Security? Because they worked for it. They worked hard jobs for it. They have chapped hands for it. They had long hours and sore backs and bad knees to get that Social Security.”

“And if Ron Johnson does not understand that — if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than making sure seniors who’ve worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect, he’s not the person that’s thinking about you and knows you and sees you, and he should not be your senator from Wisconsin.”

The most poignant criticism came when Obama discussed the trend towards conspiracies and anti-democratic sentiments that are now popular positions within the Republican party. 

On conspiracy theories, the former president spoke to Johnson’s role in spreading misinformation about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 failed insurrection. Johnson has notably described the attack on the capitol as “not an armed insurrection” and said that the rioters “taught us all how you can use flagpoles as weapons.”

“If that doesn’t elicit uniform outrage, I don’t know what will,” Obama said.

Turning his attention to the gubernatorial election, Obama discussed Michels’ plan to replace the Wisconsin Elections Commission with an election oversight committee that would primarily consist of Republicans, and Michels’ public contemplation around overturning the results of the 2020 election.   

The speech took a grim turn when discussing the state of Wisconsin politics. Obama spoke about the Republican gerrymandering which has led some experts to claim that Wisconsin is no longer a democracy. He concluded the point by echoing a recent New York Times article that called the state’s 2022 races “Democrat’s last stand.”

“He is single-handedly keeping Republicans from driving the car off the road,” Obama said, referring to Evers. “He might be democracies best hope in Wisconsin.”

Framing the election as a choice on keeping democracy, the former president compared Republicans’ attitudes regarding power to the dictators he worked with during his two terms. 

“Look, Democrats aren’t perfect,” Obama said. “…but just about unanimously, Democrats still abide by the basic norms and rules of how democracy is supposed to work.”

Other speakers included Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Ben Wikler of the Wisconsin Democrats and Congresswoman Gwen Moore.

Mayor Johnson’s speech focused on the financial crisis Milwaukee is in, speaking about the need to elect Democrats to statewide office. Republicans in the state legislature have targeted Johnson, denying him crucial funding and going so far as to sue him and the city, despite Johnson’s efforts to mend the relationship including his efforts to court the 2024 Republican Convention and refusal to scale back policing in Milwaukee.   

Moore, the former student body President of North Central Division High School, received enthusiastic applause during her speech as she called Republican attack ads “just another example of racist, dog whistle politics.” The enthusiasm for Moore, who represents Milwaukee in the house of representatives, was second only to the enthusiasm received by Obama. 

Every candidate who spoke addressed the issue of reproductive freedom, a sign of the issue’s popularity with the democratic base. Wisconsinites are especially likely to be receptive to messaging around abortion, as 58% of Wisconsin residents support abortion in “most or all cases”, according to a Marquette University Law School Poll. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade means that the state’s current law goes into effect, a law that forced Wisconsin’s physicians to operate under a near-total abortion ban since the 1800’s.