Sanders Says He’ll Tap Into Wisconsin’s Progressive History During Madison Speech

Presidential Candidate Will Speak Wednesday Night At Local Convention Center

By
John Pemble (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he’ll draw on Wisconsin’s history of progressive politics during a speech in Madison Wednesday night.

Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont, told Wisconsin reporters in a conference call that his message would center around what he called a “rebirth of a strong national progressive movement.”

“The American people are sick and tired of a political and economic system which benefits the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of the vast majority of our people,” said Sanders. “So we’re going to draw — and I will say something about this — on the long progressive tradition in Wisconsin, and make it very clear that in my view, I think that is now what is going on in America.”

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Sanders said he strongly opposes Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda, saying the country needs to strengthen its trade union movement, not break it.

He said 9,500 people had RSVP-ed for his speech at Madison’s Alliant Energy Center.