MILWAUKEE — With one year to go until the 2024 presidential election, the road to the White House will run directly through Wisconsin as the swing state could prove pivotal in deciding which party emerges victorious.
Though a lot can change in a year, it seems former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, who have both previously won the Badger State, could be on the path to a rematch next year.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Assistant Political Science Prof. Anthony Chergosky believes of all the swing states, Wisconsin could be the most crucial.
“I think it’s very likely that Wisconsin could once again be the tipping point state,” Chergosky said. “The tipping point state just means that the state puts the candidate who wins the election over that key threshold in the Electoral College. In other words, whoever wins the tipping point state wins the presidential election.”
The Republican Party is well aware of the stakes, having selected Milwaukee to host its nominating convention next summer. However, Chergosky doubts the energy from the major political event will last three months to Election Day.
“I think when we get to November 2024, the nominating convention could be ancient history, but more generally, I think that the nominating convention’s presence in Wisconsin reflects the extreme importance of this state,” Chergosky explained. “If we consider that the Democratic nominating convention is in Chicago, it just reflects the importance of the Midwest more broadly. Michigan and Pennsylvania are likely to play key roles in the Electoral College as well. Of course, there are other states that could matter a lot, but those three key states in the Midwest could very well be the decisive state in the 2024 presidential election.”
Meanwhile, the playbook for Democrats has largely relied on the issue of abortion rights. The strategy has mostly been successful among Wisconsinites who reelected Gov. Tony Evers last year and supported Justice Janet Protasiewicz by double digits to flip the ideological balance of the state Supreme Court this past spring. Though the issue remains tied up in the legal system in Wisconsin, Chergosky believes talk of a national abortion ban will likely reignite the topic on the campaign trail.
“Abortion is going to play a very significant role. I think it serves a couple of functions for the Democrats strategically,” Chergosky added. “On the one hand, abortion motivates the base of the party, and having a motivated base is extremely important in the broader context of the general election come November 2024. I also think abortion has the potential to swing some of those undecided voters, so this goes back to the role that abortion played in the 2022 Midterm elections.”
Watch the full interview above.