WASHINGTON — Another day, another visit by the presidential candidates to Wisconsin. But this time, former president Donald Trump will have some company. On Wednesday, former Green Bay Packers star Brett Favre will rally with him too.
It’s the latest in a series of athletes, entertainers and high-profile politicians the candidates are using to campaign with and for them.
“Anything that increases turnout that favors one candidate over the other might be enough statewide to generate a few thousand votes that could flip the election one way or the other,” said Michael Kraft, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Political analysts say such surrogates can help by generating press attention and excitement, thereby mobilizing voters. But Kraft said they might be less effective in Wisconsin this year because voter interest in the presidential race already is high.
“We’re close to the very top of high turnout states, and we don’t need an extra push by Bill Clinton or anybody else to turn out. This is a very motivated electorate,” Kraft said. “So really, at this point, you’re campaigning for the undecided voter, the low turnout voter.”
Kennan Ferguson, a professor of political science at UW-Milwaukee, said campaigns create events to make people feel like they’re part of a bigger movement.
“Trump was really effective in 2016 with his rallies doing exactly that,” Ferguson explained. “The campaign’s hope is that if you have, say, a well-known sports figure like Favre, that people will come out to see him, and they will become inculcated in that part of the dynamic; that they’ll feel like these are my people, and so I want to support them, because they’re who I belong with.”
Anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard — both former Democrats — have campaigned in Wisconsin for Trump. And former President Bill Clinton is to campaign in the state Thursday for Harris. Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney drew national attention when she stumped in Wisconsin with Harris earlier this month. Former President Barack Obama joined Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for a rally in the state too.
“She’s trying to encourage other like-minded Republicans to say, ‘Oh, if somebody like Cheney can do that, I can do that as well.’ And that’s a little different than what’s always been a part of politics, which is the Kennedy and Gabbard approach, which is, ‘Look, here’s somebody who realized that their party was wrong, and they’re now one of us,’” said Ferguson.
Both Harris and Trump will be back in Wisconsin on Friday, a final push for themselves in the swing state before Election Day.