Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker said he thinks Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders “most likely” will win Wisconsin’s Democratic presidential primary, but former Vice President Joe Biden probably will be the Democratic nominee.
“I actually think that is a good thing for the president,” Walker said in an interview aired Sunday on “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com.
Walker said that’s because Biden is comparable to 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in “the sense that they will say and do anything to get elected.”
“This president, whether you agree with him or not on every issue, he is who he says he’s going to be. And I think that’s really important here in the Midwest,” Walker said.
In early 2021, Walker will assume leadership of the Young America’s Foundation, based in northern Virginia, which works to promote conservative ideas to the nation’s youth.
“UpFront” host Adrienne Pedersen asked Walker about President Trump’s poll numbers among young people in Wisconsin. In the most recent Marquette Law School Poll, Trump had a 63 percent job disapproval rating among people aged 18-29.
“I get it, and it’s not just young people. I tell people all the time that the president may occasionally tweet things and say things that I and people around me here in this state would not do,” Walker said.
“But Washington is filled, filled, with people who talk right but don’t do squat,” he said. “This president has done tremendous things on substance.”
Walker cited the strong economy and low unemployment and said “we just have to remind people to connect the dots.”
Walker also said his son Matt is thinking about running for the 5th Congressional District seat that will be open in 2020 with the retirement of Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.
“He’s had a number of people reach out to him,” Scott Walker said.
“I think in particular, what intrigues him, is he feels frustrated that AOC (U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY) somehow nationally is reflective of his generation. He’s 25, and he feels like there needs to be a counter-voice to that,” Scott Walker said.
Also on the program, Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-LaCrosse, called on the GOP-run Legislature to address gun violence and pass a Democratic bill that would expand background checks to the purchase of guns at auctions, shows and online.
“We are already conducting background checks,” she said. “By expanding what we already have, I think it could lead to greater public safety.”
Expanded background checks have public support, and “is something that responsible gun owners can agree with and are calling for,” she said.
She said gun-related legislation should be a priority of lawmakers in the fall floor period. But with only one day scheduled for October and another day in November, she said Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has the option of calling a special session on gun violence.
“I think that is a grave mistake and certainly irresponsible on the Legislature’s behalf that we don’t address this issue,” she said.
“If Republicans were truly listening to voters and listening to the public, they would hear this call loud and clearly, and unfortunately they remain beholden to special interest groups such as the NRA,” she said.
“I think it’s time that we come out of our corners, that we have the courage to talk about a really tough issue here in our country, a public safety issue, a gun safety issue, so that we can address these senseless acts of violence across our country,” Shilling said.
See more from the program:
http://www.wisn.com/upfront
