Govs. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and Tony Evers (D-WI) gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, to rally voters for President Joe Biden one day ahead of former President Donald Trump’s visit to the Badger State.
Wisconsin, a swing state, is one of the most coveted for the 2024 election. Democrats are hoping to capitalize on support for abortion rights that has led to victories for Democrats across the country in recent years. The timing of the governors’ meeting may have been purposeful, coming shortly before the second-year anniversary of the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
Speaking about Trump and his impact on the landmark reversal, Whitmer said, “We know that the first term was devastating. The prospect of a second one … just shakes me to my core,” per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “All of these are extended on the same fundamental right and that is substantive due process.”
Whitmer and Evers warned that a Trump victory would result in him signing a national abortion ban.
“It’s really important to remind people that if Donald Trump gets a second term in the White House, he has already committed to signing a national abortion ban,” Whitmer said. “Biden is the only person on the ballot who would win the White House and will protect these fundamental rights.”
Trump has not committed to signing a national abortion ban, and his resistance to taking a stronger stance against abortion has drawn him flak from some anti-abortion groups. In April, he expressed his position that abortion should be left to the states to decide individually.
“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trump said. “In this case, the law of the state.”
At another point, he expressed his belief that a six-week ban on abortion in Florida was a “terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”
Despite this, Democrats have made it a priority to connect Trump to abortion bans, looking to recreate electoral successes in 2022 and 2023 around the issue.
Trump is set to hold a rally in Racine, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
Whitmer and Evers’s meeting on Monday took the form of a roundtable discussion, featuring local healthcare professionals and community leaders.
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Evers also took aim at Trump’s reported bashing of Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention will be held this summer, saying it was “a good example” of Trump hiding his views.
“It’s a way to absolutely hide behind positions,” Evers said. Trump’s campaign and other Republicans in the room at the time of Trump’s reported comments strongly pushed back that he ever called Milwaukee a “horrible city,” saying the former president was referring to the problems the city has faced.
