Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) made visits across Michigan to drum up support for Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend. The race in Michigan is set to be one of the closest in the 2024 presidential election.
Sanders went to Warren, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and East Lansing. He was joined by United Auto Workers President Sean Fain.
Over the weekend, Sanders spoke to WCMU and discussed the most important issues voters are considering.
He said Harris was talking about important issues like expanding the child tax credit, building new houses and talking about the environment. “Kamala is on the side of working families, on the side of the environment, on the side of women, on the side and on the side of young people.”
He said that he disagreed with the Biden administration’s handling of the War in Gaza.
“Israel obviously had the right to defend itself from the terrorist attack of October 7th almost a year ago,” he said. “They did not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, killing 40,000, wounding 90,000, causing massive destruction.”
He said he and the administration want to see “an immediate ceasefire and massive amounts of humanitarian aid.” Harris on Friday met with Arab and Muslim leaders in Flint.
The campaign is hoping to drum up support among disaffected voters upset by the war in Gaza. Abandon Harris, a coalition of those voters, endorsed Jill Stein Monday. Stein spoke in Dearborn over the weekend.
Ultimately, he re-iterated his belief that Harris is the right candidate, saying the race would be close. “I think Michigan can be the deciding factor.”
"Can you name a more unrelatable trio to Michiganders than Bernie Sanders, Shawn Fain and Kamala Harris," said Victoria LaCivita, Michigan communications director for the Donald Trump campaign. "We already know that rank and file union members view Shawn Fain as nothing more than a political puppet, and that Bernie Sanders will jump at any opportunity to mandate electric vehicles - casting a death wish for Michigan's auto industry. That's why real people, working class Michiganders are standing by President Trump and his pro-worker record this November."
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance is set to speak at Eastern Market in Detroit on Thursday.
Editor's note: The transcript of WCMU's interview with Senator Sanders has been lightly edited for clarity and length. The conversation took place on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.
Rick Brewer: You've said Kamala Harris must speak forcefully about class and labor issues in order to win this election. Do you feel she's done that on the campaign trail?
Sen. Bernie Sanders: Well, I think she's done a lot of it. I'd like to see her do more of it. She is advocating for a permanent extension of the child tax credit, which will go a long way to cutting childhood poverty in America. And ending the absurdity of the United States having one of the highest rates of childhood poverty of any major country. That's a progressive initiative, it's very, very important. I can tell you that in Vermont, and I think Michigan, all across this country, we have a major housing crisis. And certainly one of the key solutions is to build millions of units of low-income and affordable housing. She's talking about that. She's talking about the need to make it easier for workers to join unions so they can get higher wages, better benefits. That's the Pro Act. She's been on that. She wants to raise the minimum wage. She's talking about climate. She's talking about a lot of good things. Do I think she'd be a little bit stronger as some other issues, I do.
RB: I want to zoom in on a key issue in Michigan. We have the largest Muslim and Arab American population in the country. Many are not back backing Vice President Harris for the Biden administration's foreign policy in Gaza, as well as rising tensions in Middle East. Polling suggests some of these voters may be voting third party this coming election. What more do you think Vice President Harris should be doing to court these voters.
BS: My own views on the war, what's going on in Gaza are pretty well known. And this is an area while I strongly support what President Biden has done domestically, I think he's one of the most progressive presidents since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I disagree with him in terms of the situation in Gaza. Israel obviously had the right to defend itself from the terrorist attack of October 7th almost a year ago. But they did not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people, killing 40,000, wounding 90,000, causing massive destruction in Gaza. I think the goal right now, and I know that Kamala and the president would like to see that, is an immediate ceasefire. And massive amounts of humanitarian aid that goes to a very desperate Palestinian people.
RB: I want to circle back to more about what Vice President Harris could be doing on this issue here in the State of Michigan. Now. She did meet with Arab, American and Muslim leaders in Flint yesterday. That's on Friday. But it's exactly, it's not clear what exactly she talked about. All we know is what a campaign spokesperson has told us. Do you think this is her right approach on messaging about this issue? To this key voting block in Michigan, who are really wanting to hear from her directly about what she plans to do if she enters the White House when it comes to foreign policy in the Middle East.
BS: All I could tell you is what I believe. And I believe that we should not be supporting a right wing extremist Netanyahu government. Which has really done horrific things to the Palestinian people. And you know, Israel had a right to defend itself against Hamas. But you do not have a right to kill 40,000 people, 2/3 of whom are women, children and the elderly, or wound so many people or bomb universities, destroy the infrastructure, destroy the health care system, and that is not appropriate. And I do not support giving more arms to Netanyahu to continue the destruction in Gaza. That's my view.
RB: What do you think are going to be the keys to success for the Harris campaign in the final days of this election? We're about a month away.
BS: You have in Trump somebody who does not believe that women have a right to control their own body at a time when we're seeing anyone paying attention to North Carolina seeing the damage done that directly related to climate change. Not only in North Carolina all over the country, all over the world. Donald Trump thinks climate change is a hoax. Donald Trump. encouraged people, insurrectionist, to deny the fact that take away the election that Biden won in 2020. I think those are major facts and I think the other one is of the needs of a struggling working class in this country. But at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, Trump wants to give huge tax breaks to billionaires. That's not what we need. I think on the key issues facing the American people, it's pretty clear who was on which side. And Kamala is on the side of working families on the side of the environment on the side of women on the side of young people. Trump, unfortunately, is on the side of the very wealthiest people in this country.
