DE PERE, Wis. — Republicans are crisscrossing battleground Wisconsin this week as former President Donald Trump prepares to hold a town hall in La Crosse Thursday evening, his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, spoke to supporters in De Pere, near Green Bay, on Wednesday night.
Vance’s latest visit can be summed up in three words: economy, energy, inflation. Those were the talking points the Republican nominee for vice president stuck to fresh off a similar stop in Erie, Pennsylvania earlier in the day.
From the warehouse floor of AmeriLux International, with freight trucks in the foreground, Vance talked about transportation at the beginning of his remarks.
“Our truckers are paying too much for fuel, but it’s not just our truckers,” Vance told the crowd. “We all know that because our truckers bring everything to market, they bring the groceries to the grocery store, they bring the lumber to the construction site. If the truckers are paying more for fuel, we’re all paying more for everything.”
Vance then moved on to voice concerns about rising prices in Wisconsin. Though inflation and the economy have been common themes from the campaign, energy specifically has been less discussed until recently.
“$11,000—that is what it costs the average Wisconsin family to buy today what they could have bought three years ago,” Vance said. “Is that a good thing for Wisconsin families?”
That figure comes from a November 2023 analysis by Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee, according to PolitiFact, which rates the statement as half true.
Earlier this month, during an interview with Spectrum News, former President Donald Trump said he wants to cut energy prices in half.
“We have very bad energy policy, and the environmental stuff is ridiculous,” Trump explained. “It’s taken over, and it’s just crazy.”
In the Fox Valley, where Vance spoke, and for those living in southeast Wisconsin, We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service have asked the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) for electric and gas rate increases in 2025 and 2026 that total almost $800 million.
“So, it’s going to start right here in Wisconsin. We’re going to win this race. We’re going to win Wisconsin, we’re going to take back this country, and we’re going to do it because of every single one of you,” Vance concluded.
Vance’s visit to AmeriLux on Wednesday is hardly the first for a Republican candidate. Donald Trump, Jr. has held rallies in the same warehouse a couple of times. Most recently, in June for Tony Wied, who is running for the 8th congressional district, and once previously for his father’s reelection campaign in October 2020.