Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett appeared Tuesday on MSNBC, as voting was underway in the Democratic primary for the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall. With Barrett ahead in the polls, host Thomas Roberts asked Barrett what his message was to the voters — to which Barrett pivoted in his response, looking ahead to the general election.
“Well, Thomas, I’ve been focusing this entire time on Scott Walker, and his failures as governor,” Barrett said. “Because at the end of the day, this is gonna be a referendum on Scott Walker. This is a historic recall, here in the state of Wisconsin, and it really centers around several questions.
“One, since he’s been governor, Wisconsin has lost more jobs than any other state in the entire country — in fact, between March of 2011 and March of 2012, Wisconsin was the only state to lose jobs. Second, he has divided the state like it’s never been divided before. He has relied very heavily on out-of-state contributions — probably 60 to 70 percent of his most recent contributions have come from out of state. And finally, I think he’s the only governor who has a criminal defense fund right now.
“And those are the issues that I’ve been talking about. And for me, it’s really about ending the civil war here in the state of Wisconsin that Scott Walker began, and that’s resonating with the voters right now.”
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