STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) – It’s not often when the Presidential campaigns travel through central Wisconsin on election eve. It just goes to show how pivotal the Badger State is in this election.
Monday, Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, and Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz held a “Get Out The Vote” rally at UW-Stevens Point.
Last week, NewsChannel 7 requested a 1-on-1 with Republican V.P. nominee, and Ohio Senator, JD Vance but was denied. Though, Sen. Vance did answer two questions from NewsChannel 7′s Dale Ryman at the Wausau Downtown Airport event. We made the same request to the Harris-Walz campaign when we got word Tim Walz would be in Stevens Point, and that request was accepted. Attached is the full, unedited video of the interview between Ryman and Walz. Below is the transcript from the interview.
NEWSCHANNEL 7′S DALE RYMAN: Governor, the pollsters say that if you win the blue wall states, it’s a perfect path to victory. Do you see a path to victory if you don’t win Wisconsin?
GOV. TIM WALZ: Yeah. Well, look, we’re excited about this. We’ve got multiple paths to get this done, because people are gravitating towards this positive vision, this new way for this opportunity economy. So I just came out of North Carolina last night. Was in Georgia earlier. Big crowds. Folks are going, but look, the Blue Wall’s always been there. And I think it’s the policies that we’re advocating for, whether it’s the rural policies we put out to protect rural hospitals, or advocating the things that we know make these communities thrive. So yeah, we got multiple paths, but we’re not taking any votes for granted, and we’re making sure we’re in every, every one of these states.
RYMAN: As you know, (living) in Minnesota, farming is very big here in Wisconsin, in the Midwest. The Farm Bill expired September 30. Lots of programs in that Farm Bill, including SNAP benefits. To get a new Farm Bill, how would you make that step, if you guys win, to address that?
WALZ: Yeah, well, I wrote, helped write three of them when I was there, I served on the Ag Committee. I served as a ranking member on the commodities. Look, the Farm Bill is critically important. It’s important for the safety net programs for farmers. It’s important for the nutrition programs you mentioned. It’s also important for the conservation. Now it is not but normally, the most bipartisan of all bills. This Republican Congress is the first one, I think, over 50 years, that haven’t got one done on time. I think it goes back to what Kamala Harris said on the ellipse the other night. She wants to be a President for all Americans. This is one we can cut, we can get done together. These bills that are bipartisan, and the Farm Bill is one of those. Let’s just get them through and get the work done for America. And what she knows, and I understand, is we’re gonna have to compromise with Republicans, and that’s okay. That’s how we get better legislation.
RYMAN: The campaign has said, you want to get wages up and prices down. How do you get prices down, (or rather) wages up without impacting prices (even higher)? There’s a fine line there, right?
WALZ: Well, there’s certain things you don’t do. You don’t put tariffs on goods, jacking up the prices. What Donald Trump has said. The biggest thing is, is bringing back manufacturing jobs when you grow the economy. Doing that, we’ve seen here in Wisconsin, where Donald Trump lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, we’ve started to gain them back by putting in the policies that make a difference. And then making sure that we’re incentivizing with the tax cuts and some of the tax credit, like the Child Tax Credit, are going directly to the middle class, and then you take on some of these price issues. We’re talking about farming on this, your farmers are getting $4.10, $4.12 a bushel corn. That’s what they were getting when food prices were lower. They’re not making any more profit as food prices went up. That’s why 37 states have price gouging plans. So I think it’s either that or pharmaceuticals. You start to get a handle on it.
RYMAN: A lot of people are really focused in on immigration and the border. While we may not be directly impacted by the border here, as much as other places (further down south), there is a lot of fentanyl that’s making its way up to Wisconsin and northern Wisconsin. How will that be addressed by the campaign, by the Harris-Walz administration?
WALZ: Yeah. And immigration impacts us all. It impacts us in jobs and those things in this issue. First and foremost on this, we had the fairest and the strongest border Bill we’ve seen in a generation that was crafted by the most conservative Republicans in Congress. It was crafted by the Border Patrol agents. What that did was add 1500 more Border Patrol agents. It added all of the new equipment for fentanyl detection, and then it added the Department of Justice money to help fund some of those programs. We need to get that bill done. Donald Trump killed the bill because he wants to talk about this issue. We need to do that. And then we also need to make sure that healthcare is available for chemical dependency treatment, things like that. There’s both sides of this. We want to do all we can to prevent people and prevent the fentanyl from getting there, but we want to make sure that folks have an option to do treatment to get off some of the opioids that we’ve seen.
RYMAN: Tomorrow will be 13 weeks since you were chosen as the VP running mate. When you look back, even though it’s not over yet, but when you look back on these last 13 weeks, what has that ride been like? And is there anything that maybe you thought…maybe you would have liked to have tweaked?
WALZ: Well, it was a privilege to be on it. And I think the biggest thing I would say on this is, is the privilege of being able to see America in a way I never would have in 100 lifetimes, and what it taught me. And the Vice President says this, and I think many people know this, but I viscerally saw it. How much we have in common and how strong the desire is to unite this nation. I think people are tired of the fighting. They’re tired of the division. They want to see us come together. So I think on that being part of a campaign, it’s big. It was fast, as I said out there in 107 days, we built a movement of folks that are ready to work together to get this done. I look forward to the next four years,
RYMAN: I know yesterday, Vice President Harris, her speech, didn’t mention the other side by name. The few minutes I heard your speech the beginning today, you didn’t mention Trump by name either. Very strategically based. How has that strategy changed over the course these last few days?
WALZ: Yeah, no, it’s very observant of you, too. Look as part of what you do. You have to set up the contrast. And to be very candid, Donald Trump has set that contrast up with us, threatening, you know, shooting of the press and some of these things that are just just outrageous and dark. I think the point is, you see the contrast is there. We have a responsibility to say, what are you going to do for us? Offering up that economic plan, offering up a rural agenda, offering up an agenda for Black youth, or whatever it may be. We’ve done those things, and now it’s the opportunity to focus on that, focus on the hopefulness, focus on what we can do. And I’m really proud of that, because I think we are going to turn the page on Donald Trump. I think this is going to be an era that history will look back on. But it’s been very divisive. It’s been folks at each other, you know, fighting constantly. I think what we’re focusing on is that comes to an end tomorrow. We start moving forward.
RYMAN: Last question, there’s been already a 1.5-million early votes already cast here in Wisconsin. Last election, there were 3.5-million. So that means there are 2 million people who are going to head to the polls tomorrow. Your last message to them is what?
WALZ: Yeah, choose unity over division. Choose an opportunity economy over one that benefits the rich. Choose a place where health care is a priority and it’s protected, and choose a place where you see those that are around you as your neighbors, not as an enemy. That’s the opportunity that we have. We have an opportunity to get back to the best of American politics, joyfulness over hatefulness. And I would ask them humbly to support Kamala Harris. She’ll bring us that.
RYMAN: Governor Walz. Thank you so much for the time.
WALZ: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Copyright 2024 WSAW. All rights reserved.
