Obama recalls Trump’s pandemic performance in pitch to Wisconsin voters

Former President Barack Obama campaigned with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, in battleground Wisconsin on Tuesday, urging people to vote on the state’s first day of early voting.

In his pitch to voters, Mr. Obama accused former President Donald Trump of being focused only on himself, and as a candidate who sees voters as a “means to his ends” for more power.

Mr. Obama said it will be a tight race but wondered why voters would look to Mr. Trump to “shake things up,” and urged them to look at the Republican nominee’s track record, particularly during the pandemic, to see what could lie ahead if he wins a second term.

The former president recalled that when he left office, he left behind a pandemic playbook that “apparently got dropped into a trash bin” when Mr. Trump took office.

Mr. Obama said that COVID-19 was going to be a problem no matter who was in office, but pointed to Canada, which had a lower death rate than the U.S. during the pandemic, to compare how a “capable, competent government” responded.

“If somebody tells you it does not make a difference whether you elect someone who’s competent, somebody who cares about you, somebody who listens to experts and listens to ordinary people and knows what their lives are like and what they’re going through,” Mr. Obama said. “It makes a difference.”

Mr. Obama’s swing through Madison, Wisconsin came with two weeks left until election day, and as a majority of states across the country have opened up early voting.

Mr. Trump narrowly lost to President Biden in Wisconsin in 2020 by roughly 20,000 votes. Four years earlier, Mr. Trump won the state by about the same margin. Now, Mr. Trump is ahead by less than half a percentage point in the Badger State, according to polling aggregate Real Clear Polling.

Democrats still appear to hold the edge in early voting across the country as of Tuesday, according to data analyzed by TargetSmart. Of the roughly 14.1 million early ballots cast, 7.2 million are from Democratic voters and 5.7 million are from Republican voters.

Mr. Walz also criticized Mr. Trump, telling the crowd that running for the White House is about stamina, and that the former president is running out of gas.

“He’s ducked debates, but you can’t blame him. When you get your ass whipped that hard, you don’t come back for seconds,” Mr. Walz said. “He dropped out of three interviews, and his staff, in a moment of clarity and truth, said he was exhausted. Look, I don’t care how exhausted he is, because I can promise you he’s not as exhausted as the American people are of him.”

With just two weeks until election day, Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris have made the seven swing states a focal point for their campaigns. The former president campaigned last weekend in battleground Pennsylvania while Ms. Harris jumped from Michigan to Georgia.

While Mr. Obama and Mr. Walz urged voters to cast their votes early, Ms. Harris was scheduled to appear on NBC Nightly News and Telemundo on Tuesday night.

Mr. Trump was in Greensboro, North Carolina as part of a two-day trek through the swing state — on Monday he toured damage from Hurricane Helene in Asheville.