MADISON, Wis. — The two major political parties are coming up with their ground game plan for battleground Wisconsin as visits from both presidential campaigns ramp up.
After Vice President Kamala Harris visited La Crosse earlier this week and with former President Donald Trump’s trip to Waukesha County scheduled for next week, the state party chairs traded jabs over strategy and their candidates during a WisPolitics event Thursday.
“The more visits, the better,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler told the audience. “I think Democrats do better when voters here hear President Biden’s message, and I think Democrats do much better when they hear President Trump’s message, so I want to encourage both of them to spend as much time in our state as possible.”
Though President Biden and Vice President Harris have each been to Wisconsin three times so far this year, compared to Trump’s one visit to Green Bay earlier this month, Republicans don’t feel the need to play catch up and insist those efforts aren’t paying off for Democrats.
“It has had the exact same effect in the polling as Hillary Clinton never showing up once, so their emphasis on the state is not because they are confident in Wisconsin,” Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming explained. “It’s because they know they are in trouble.”
Trouble that Schimming said is happening up and down the ballot as he puts his energy toward building the base.
“We knocked off a Democrat mayor in Wausau who was one of their ‘rising stars’ and flipped seven county boards around the state, so where we see our opportunity to grow, and my message to Republicans across the state is about growing voter base,” Schimming added.
It’s somewhat of a similar story for Wikler as he focuses on numbers, too. More specifically, the ever-changing electorate.
“There are some voters who are undecided right now,” Wikler stated. “There are some voters who are thinking about third parties right now. There are some voters trying to decide whether to vote, and I actually think it’s an all of the above kind of election. We’re going to have to make sure that we are present and organized, and talking to people and making our case.”
Trump will make his second trip to Wisconsin since 2022, when he campaigned for then-gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, next week with a rally held at the Waukesha County Expo Center on Wednesday.