GREEN BAY, WI – (WGBW & WISS) – One week to the day away from the November 5th election, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin brought her “Get Out The Vote” bus tour to the Green Bay area on Tuesday night.

Baldwin pulled her bus into the parking lot of Hinterland Brewery and in the shadow of Lambeau Field, encouraged people to vote, vote early, and ask friends, relatives, and acquaintances to vote as well.

“It makes all the difference. And in a battleground state like this, you reaching out is going to make the difference,” Baldwin said. “Don’t feel though. You have to deliver 20,000 votes. Just work on delivering one that wasn’t planning on voting. You can do that in these last seven days. And when we do that collectively, we’re going to win.”

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin brought her bus tour to Ashwaubenon Tuesday night. She is running for re-election against Republican Eric Hovde. Photo: Lisa M. Hale/Civic Media

Stark difference in candidates

Baldwin is seeking her third term as a U.S. Senator. She is in a tight race against businessman and bank-owner Eric Hovde. While her speech dealt mainly with encouraging voting and canvassing for the Democratic ticket, she did highlight some differences between her and Hovde.

“In this race in my race, the contrast could not be more stark. My opponent Eric Hovde wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, stripping millions from their health insurance,” Baldwin said. “I helped write the Affordable Care Act when I was in the House of Representatives.”

Baldwin explained that she was involved in the Affordable Care Act because when she was a child she had an illness that put her in the hospital for three months. She was then considered uninsurable.

“Back then the big health insurance companies – even the small ones – had no obligation, no legal mandate, to cover people who were sick, or who had a pre-existing condition. So millions of people in America back then with battling cancer, or asthma, or diabetes, or, me, a child with a pre-existing condition, we just went without health insurance. And we changed all that with the Affordable Care Act,” said Baldwin

Baldwin noted Hovde supported and celebrated the Dobbs Decision in 2022 that repealed Roe v. Wade. That decision created pockets in the nation and even within the state where women can get the reproductive health they need.

“He (Hovde) thinks it’s okay that our rights and freedoms vary from state to state. Or even in Wisconsin from County to County. At this point in time, services are only available in three counties in Wisconsin,” Baldwin said. “Three counties. Your rights and freedoms depend upon your ZIP code. That may be okay with Eric Hovde. It is not okay with me.”

Kristin Lyerly joins Tammy Baldwin

Baldwin was joined in Ashwaubenon by Dr. Kristin Lyerly, who is running for the 8th Congressional District. Lyerly, an OB/GYN who has made women’s reproductive health her main issue in the election, said she met Baldwin while advocating for an issue—an issue Baldwin didn’t support.

Tammy Baldwin and Dr. Kristin Lyerly appeared together as part of Baldwin’s bus tour in Ashwaubenon Tuesday. Photo: Lisa M. Hale/Civic Media

“She (Tammy Baldwin) told me why she disagreed with the thing that I was lobbying for,” said Lyerly. “But she did it in the most wonderful, and gentle, and common-ground kind of way. And I walked out of that experience thinking this is a woman who knows how to get s— done.”

Baldwin’s “Get Out The Vote” bus tour covered more than 1300 miles across Wisconsin in over a week’s worth of appearances.

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