Before the Madison meet-and-greet, O'Rourke met with U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan at The Old Fashioned on the Capitol square. After leaving Madison, he was set to meet with women in the Emerge Wisconsin program, IBEW union members and organizers with BLOC (Black Leaders Organizing for Communities) in Milwaukee.

Speaking to the crowd at Cargo, O'Rourke said he'd been to Wisconsin about 20 years ago, touring with his punk band in a Plymouth Satellite station wagon. He compared his campaign launch — a road trip across the country in a Dodge Caravan — to his earlier "punk rock adventure."

The same way "punk rock was able to strip down all the excess of rock and roll," O'Rourke said, his campaign is a stripped-down effort to meet voters directly and eschew outside influences including donations from political action committees or lobbyists.

"The only way to win is to show up. I have found that in every political race I’ve run, from city council to Congress to U.S. Senate. When we don’t show up, we get what we deserve, and that is to lose. So i’m going to show up everywhere for everyone," he told reporters. "The only way for you to take me at my word is to see me in person and for us to get the chance to meet, to hear each other out."