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• Baldwin

U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin (right) made a stop at the Shafer Family Dairy Farm outside of Spring Valley Oct. 12. She is joined by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (left) and owner John Shafer (middle).

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SPRING VALLEY--When Tammy Baldwin was nine-years-old, she was hospitalized with a serious illness for three months.

Her grandparents raised her and discovered their coverage for her hospitalization was denied because their policy didn’t cover grandchildren as dependents.

And when she recovered, Baldwin was denied coverage for years because she had a “pre-existing condition.”

“I didn’t have health insurance until I was a freshman in college,” she said.

So, years later as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Democrat Baldwin had more than a vested interest in helping get the Affordable Care Act passed.

“What happened to me and my family when I was a child was one of the reasons I got into politics,” she said. “No one should go through the struggles my family did…Everyone deserves to have their fair share.”

Baldwin is now the Democratic nominee in the U.S. Senate race to succeed the retiring Herb Kohl. Her opponent is Republican and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Baldwin made stops through Western Wisconsin on her campaign Oct. 12. She was joined by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) as the pair made stops in Hudson, River Falls and the Shafer Family Dairy farm outside of Spring Valley.

“This election is many ways is about whose side are you on,” she said. “My opponent is swayed by the special interests group of Washington D.C. I will fight them. I will stand up to those powerful interests groups.”

For more please read the Oct. 24 print version of the Herald.

Tags: local government, news, government, wisconsin, politics