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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders told a crowd in Madison Friday that Republican President Donald Trump is a “pathological liar,” while framing the next presidential election as a chance to stem a rising global tide of authoritarianism and bigotry.

“What this election is about is whether we strengthen democracy or we move toward oligarchy,” Sanders, I-Vt., told a crowd of several hundred supporters.

The rally at James Madison Park was the first of eight stops Sanders will make this weekend in battleground states including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Those states were decisive in tipping the Electoral College to Trump in 2016 after they backed Democrats in past presidential contests.

With the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin still a year away, Sanders’ visit was his opening salvo in a bid to reproduce his Democratic primary win here in 2016. His campaign has cited that win as part of a case that he’s uniquely positioned to fare well against Trump in the pivotal Upper Midwest.