Bernie Sanders trolls Donald Trump's visit to Wisconsin
Molly Beck
MADISON - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is seeking to defend his friendly turf in Wisconsin against a second win by President Donald Trump in 2020 by tying job losses across Wisconsin to the president.
"Donald Trump Lied To Wisconsin Workers," a front-page ad to run in Friday's Green Bay Press-Gazette and paid for by Sanders' campaign alleges. "In a Bernie Sanders White House, we will end the corporate greed behind the Shopko closures, Kimberly-Clark layoffs and Foxconn scam."
The ad will run a day before Trump makes his first visit to Wisconsin as part of a re-election bid. The president won the state in the general election in 2016 — the first time Wisconsin voters picked a Republican candidate for president in three decades.
Sanders, who won the state in its Democratic primary election, is seeking the matchup that could have been. Both are making early pitches in the state, which is key to Trump's second term and pivotal for Democrats to restore their so-called "blue wall" strategy.
Trump won Wisconsin and the so-called blue wall states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, in part, because of his message of restoring job losses experienced in those states as a result of outsourcing.
Sanders in his Friday ad suggests Trump should have prevented job losses in the Fox Valley by stopping the closures of Shopko stores and a manufacturing plant belonging to Kimberly-Clark Corp.
The Sanders campaign also pointed to Kimberly-Clark using savings from a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul signed by Trump in 2017 for a restructuring plan that included layoffs in Wisconsin.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to questions about the Sanders' ad.
Kimberly-Clark officials planned to close facilities in Neenah and Fox Crossing as part of a global restructuring and said they would change course only if they received state subsidies. As of 2018, the company employed 110 people at the Neenah facility and about 500 at the Fox Crossing facility, which is known as the Cold Spring plant.
Under a plan crafted by former Gov. Scott Walker and company officials, the Neenah nonwovens facility would close, as would a plant in Conway, Arkansas.
The Cold Spring plant would remain open and Kimberly-Clark would retain about 2,400 employees around the state, including 388 at the Cold Spring plant.
Shopko filed for bankruptcy protection Jan. 16 and sought to reorganize as a regional retailer with a smaller footprint. But after failing to find an investor to fund a reorganization, the company said in mid-March that it would close all of its stores and liquidate its assets. The last of the stores are expected to close in June.
RELATED:MU poll: Donald Trump approval rises, Bernie Sanders leads Dems as Wisconsin girds for 2020 campaign
Recent Marquette University Law School polling shows that since January, the president ticked up 2 points to 46% approval, compared with 52% disapproving of his performance in office.
Just 28% say they will definitely vote to re-elect Trump next year, while 14% say they will probably vote for him.
Meanwhile, 8% say they will probably vote against the president and 46% say they will definitely vote against him.
Meanwhile, the April poll also showed Sanders leading the field of candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination when voters were asked to rate candidates as a top choice, an acceptable choice or someone they would not vote for or had not heard enough about.
Thirty-two percent said Sanders would be a top choice — edging out former Vice President Joe Biden, who announced his candidacy for president on Thursday.
The Sanders campaign said it also is holding 52 events across the state on Saturday to organize volunteers.
Contact Molly Beck at (608) 258-2263 or at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.