Donald W. Riegle

Opinion contributor

To defeat President Donald Trump, we need a candidate who can win back places like the Upper Midwest. Having been born in Flint, Michigan, and having represented the region in the House and Senate as both a Republican and a Democrat, I am confident Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is our strongest candidate to defeat Trump. Polls show Sanders is running strong nationally and in states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. That is because working families know Sanders is on their side.

For instance, take the curse of NAFTA that has sent millions of U.S. jobs offshore, shut down hundreds of factories and strip-mined the living standard of our displaced blue-collar workers. Only Sanders had the judgment to vote against the original NAFTA and Trump’s new update.

Similarly, millions cannot afford medical care and are working more hours, often at two or three jobs, to earn enough to support their families, as they struggle with school debt and high housing costs.

In response, only Sanders is unequivocally pushing to expand Medicare to cover all. He has called for higher wages and tax changes that will reverse the massive tax cuts now flowing to Trump’s wealthy friends. And he has proposed to use this new revenue to make college tuition free.

Sanders has pointed out that the three richest families in America now have more combined wealth than the entire bottom 50% of Americans, 160million people. It is Robin Hood in reverse — the superrich accumulating national wealth, draining the lifeblood out of the working poor and destabilizing America. That is why Sanders is fighting to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to expand Social Security benefits.

Working families also know Sanders is on their side because his is the only leading campaign to reject money from billionaires and special interests. Instead, he is relying on contributions from everyday people, which means as president, he will answer to the people, not wealthy donors.

Sanders has catalyzed the kind of movement we will need to defeat Trump. It is a grassroots uprising in both urban and rural areas, among people of all ages, races, ethnicities and political affiliations.

This movement understands that if Sanders is nominated and elected, it will be a new day. With President Sanders, the rule of law will be reestablished, and we will finally be on a path to a future of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.

Donald W. Riegle is former U.S. senator from Michigan.