On the opening day of in-person voting in Wisconsin, former President Barack Obama and vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz held a rally in Madison, urging the crowd to vote early.
“I know you’ve heard it about 15 times so far tonight, but it’s worth repeating here in Wisconsin,” said Obama. “If you haven’t voted yet, I won’t be offended if you just walk out right now. Go vote!”
Walz, who spoke before Obama, began his speech by praising Vice President Kamala Harris’s middle-class upbringing and career as the attorney general of California, but quickly brought the same early voting encouragement.
“This election is two weeks from today, and early voting has started here in Wisconsin. Our team is running like everything is on the line, because… everything is on the line,” said Walz, as the crowd joined him, repeating the line.
Obama and Walz weren’t the only speakers of the day. They were preceded by Dane County Executive Jamie Kuhn, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, Gov. Tony Evers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin and a celebrity appearance by the Emmy Award-winning actor Bradley Whitford, a Wisconsin native.
The crowd interacted and erupted during both Walz’s and Obama’s speeches, constantly cheering, booing, laughing and shouting phrases like “Vote,” “We’re not going back” and “We love you, Obama!” a line shouted repeatedly throughout the rally.
Even seven years after leaving office, Obama’s popularity in Wisconsin cannot be understated. He is the only candidate to win Wisconsin by multiple percentage points in the last 25 years, according to 270towin.
“Oh, I thought he was great. I love listening to him talk,” said Halle Haim, a 19-year-old UW-Madison student from California. “He knows how to entertain an audience.”
Obama frequently got the crowd cracking up, particularly when he targeted former President Donald Trump.
“When he’s not complaining, he’s trying to sell you stuff,” Obama said, igniting a laugh. “You’re running for President and you’re hocking merchandise, gold sneakers and $100,000 watches.”
However, the rally wasn’t all jokes. The event took a much more serious tone while discussing key issues that are part of the Harris-Walz platform.
Walz took special care to address the men in the audience as he spoke about protecting women’s health care rights and reproductive freedom.
“I am going to talk to the guys in this room, to have them think about all the women in their life they love: daughters, wives, moms, cousins, neighbors,” said Walz. “This election is literally about their lives and protecting their lives.” He also noted there are no comparable laws governing men’s bodies and access to health care.
The message appeared to resonate. When 45-year-old Brian Kampas was asked what stuck out to him at the rally, he said health care.
“Seeing people coming in very sick, being turned away from health care for themselves and not being able to receive that health care because of the overturning of Roe v. Wade it hits home more to me,” said Kampas, who works in the health care industry.
Walz stated that Trump appointing three Supreme Court justices in his first term resulted in 20 states having “Trump abortion bans,” women being denied care at the emergency room and survivors of rape being forced to carry their pregnancies to term.
When asked about what her most important issues were in this election, Haim said abortion was at the top of her list followed by support for Israel, health care and ballot access for young people.
Neither Walz nor Obama mentioned the conflict between Israel and Palestine during their speeches.
Walz did spend some time talking about guns, however, mentioning that both he and Vice President Harris are gun owners. He emphasized that Americans can support the Second Amendment while also pushing for gun safety regulations.
“Owning guns doesn’t mean you can’t be for common-sense solutions that protect our kids from being shot in school,” said Walz.
At least one audience member, 18-year-old Aly Siebel, had actually experienced a school shooting.
“Gun laws is a big one for me, we had a school shooting in our school last year, so that’s a big one,” said Siebel, who was at school in Mt. Horeb in May when a student approached the school with a pellet rifle and was killed after being confronted by police, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Riling up the crowd like a pro wrestler about to perform his finishing move, Obama ended the event with another interactive chant.
“Get off your couch and do what?” Obama asked. “Vote!” yelled the crowd.
“Put down your phones and do what?” Obama asked. “Vote!” yelled the crowd.
The start of in-person voting officially marked the two-week countdown until Election Day on Nov. 5. For more information on voting in Wisconsin, visit myvote.wi.gov.
