GREEN BAY, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) –– Three counties in Northeast Wisconsin will likely play a key role in deciding whether the state will go red or blue in the November election.
The Democratic and Republican parties have each made the Badger State a central focus in their campaigns this week. President Donald Trump rallied in Oshkosh on Monday, the same day the Democratic National Convention began in Milwaukee.
“What I’ve heard so far throughout the DNC is a call to action, a call to unity,” said Brown County Democrat Loren Prince.
Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties are part of the state’s “Bow” region. The area is considered one of the most purple in Wisconsin.
“They, for the most part, are Republican counties,” said Jerry Murphy, an Outagamie County Republican. “The Republicans usually carry those counties, but they can be unpredictable.”
Voters in the “Bow” counties have elected Republican and Democratic judges since voting for then-candidate Trump in 2016.
Campaign spending in Northeast Wisconsin is among the highest in the country. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, a non-partisan organization that tracks candidate advertising, the Green Bay television market has seen the second-highest number of political ads in the country, second only to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Brown County Democrats Loren Prince and Charlie Brawner have watched the DNC closely. Both men said Democrats should talk about empathy and unity to show how the party differs from President Donald Trump.
“I’ve really enjoyed the all-online convention,” Brawner said, referencing the DNC’s mostly virtual platform this year. “I feel like it’s people speaking to everybody instead of the 20,000 people in the room.”
Prince and Brawner plan to vote for Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, on Election Day.
They said DNC speakers should focus on repairing the economy following the coronavirus pandemic. They believe President Trump’s response to COVID-19 is a major reason why life hasn’t gotten much better since 2016.
“I feel if we had different leadership and had taken different steps, more decisive actions earlier, we could be in a much different situation going into this school year,” Prince said.
“I did not have to turn in to the Democratic Convention for one minute to kinda know what was going to be said, what was going to be rolled out,” said Republican Jerry Murphy. “I mean they’ve been rolling out that platform forever.”
Murphy said he’s voting for President Trump. Nothing will change that. He’d like to hear Democrats urge bipartisanship, no matter who wins.
“We need to work together to get things done in the right kind of way for the American people,” he said. Murphy said he isn’t very optimistic, “but it’s a good goal.”