UW-Milwaukee Debate Highlights Race, Wisconsin Concerns

Bernie Sanders, the decisive victor in New Hampshire, came to Milwaukee Thursday with momentum, looking to keep Hillary Clinton on her toes. Hillary needed to stall the Bernie rise.

However, the Democratic debate at UW-Milwaukee was also layered in controversy. On Thursday, the State Department was ordered by a court to release the remaining Hillary Clinton emails on a rolling basis. In addition, it was reported that the Clinton Foundation was subpoenaed by the State Department last year.

The debate had some Wisconsin moments: Hillary raised the Dontre Hamilton police death; the state’s top ranking for black incarceration rate was debated, and Gov. Scott Walker was bashed.

The night got off to a heated start, as protesters from multiple organizations flooded the Union’s concourse. One of these organizations was Fight for 15, which at one point stormed into the Union Ballroom where the press was stationed, chanting “we will be back” as they left. Protests continued throughout the debate outside, across from the Zelazo Center, where the event was being held.

Following the pre-debate festivities, the candidates were introduced. Unlike the crowd outside, which seemed tilted toward Bernie, the crowd inside was noticeably split, as Sanders and Clinton both received large ovations from the Zelazo crowd.

The debate started out very similar to the ones before it, with both Sanders and Clinton going through their policies. The candidates then spent the first half of the debate discussing issues such as Wall Street, women’s issues, and African-American incarceration rates – pointing out that Wisconsin fares worst in the nation on the latter. While they agreed with each other on a number of points related to these issues, there were some differences that were often pointed out from both.

Highlights of the first half of the debate included Clinton claiming Sanders would raise size of the government by 40 percent. She also slammed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his stance on higher education, saying she does not have “much confidence” that he would commit billions of dollars to make college free.

On the other hand, Sanders highlighted some of his other positions, including his desire to eliminate the wage gap, which currently sits at 79 cents for women to every dollar a man makes. In addition, the senator pointed out that a college diploma today is worth around the same as a high school diploma in the 1960s. He also addressed the idea that an African-American baby born today has a 25 percent chance of being incarcerated at some point.

In the debate’s second half, the candidates discussed topics such as how to help with the current refugee crisis in Europe and leaders who influence their foreign decisions. In regards to the last topic, Sanders chose FDR and Winston Churchill, and Clinton went for FDR and Mandela. Clinton also slammed Sanders for disagreeing with President Obama in the past, prompting Sanders to point out he was not the one who ran against the President in 2008.

However, one of the biggest stories of the night was the debate’s discussion of Dontre Hamilton and Milwaukee issues. Both candidates were adamant that they feel police and criminal justice reform are needed to try to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

After the debate, famous journalists and broadcasters headed to the media spin room in the UWM ballroom, including Al-Jazeera, the Washington Post, CBS and CNN.

Tom Barrett, the sitting mayor of Milwaukee, came to answer questions from the media and support Clinton (neither candidate came into the spin room). Asked what he thought of the candidate’s discussion of Dontre Hamilton during the debate, Barrett said that while Hamilton’s death was very difficult for the city, he is happy that officers now have the training they need and technology equipped to prevent similar situations.

Gwen Moore, U.S. Congresswoman and Hillary Clinton supporter, was asked how she felt Clinton handled those questions. Moore said she thought Clinton did “excellent” and “tied together” criminal justice reform with other disadvantages minorities face today.