It’s no secret that Wisconsin will serve as a critical swing state in November’s presidential election. And with former President Donald Trump positioned as the presumptive Republican nominee, the reelection efforts and ongoing visits from Democratic President Joe Biden signal the attentiveness his administration will pay the state heading into April’s primary, and likely after.
“I think we're seeing the result of both how close 2020 was here, but also how Wisconsin has been the tipping point state in the Electoral College. Meaning with us you win, without us you lose,” said Charles Franklin, head of the well-known Marquette Law School Poll — which recently showed Biden and Trump nearly neck and neck among Wisconsin voters.
Biden’s most recent stop in the Dairyland — less than 24 hours after he secured enough delegates to be named the presumptive Democratic nominee for president — had the candidate boasting economic development at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club north of downtown Milwaukee and marked the seventh visit from members of the administration since the beginning of the year.
Allison Prasch, a UW-Madison professor and expert in campaigns and presidential rhetoric, said Biden’s reelection campaign is showing intentionality in when the president speaks and to whom — a recurring political tactic in which candidates note the power of speaking in particular locations.
“I think the Biden campaign recognizes that a large part of what they need to do is to portray an image of Biden as active, as engaged, as traveling from place to place and being physically able to do so because that's going to subtly undermine, or at least they hope it will undermine, comments about Biden's age,” Prasch said.
Last Wednesday morning, before the president traveled to Wisconsin, the Biden administration announced a new set of funding for infrastructure projects specifically targeting underserved communities that had been divided and disrupted by transportation infrastructure — including the neighborhood of Milwaukee where the president spoke later that day.
As part of a federal grant program bolstering local transportation and community infrastructure across the country, the Biden administration will provide $39 million for projects in communities across Wisconsin, including $36 million to the city of Milwaukee for the “6th Street Complete Streets Project.”
“This project is for you,” Biden told audience members in Milwaukee.
The grant will fund new sidewalks, bike lanes, bus lanes and green spaces in areas that were disrupted by the construction of the I-94 and I-43 in the 1960s — resulting in the demolition of 17,000 homes and 1,000 businesses across the city and predominantly impacting neighborhoods of color.
“Today we’re making decisions to transform lives for decades to come,” Biden said. “Everything we’re doing is connecting people with opportunity.”
The Biden administration also will allocate $1 million for work on the Perry Street overpass project in South Madison.
Securing the support of voters in historically underserved and underrepresented communities will be crucial for Biden’s success in November.
“So paying attention to that, trying to boost turnout, solidify the Black and Hispanic votes where he seems to have lost a little bit — makes a lot of sense,” Franklin said. “Plus, you know, the trip two trips ago was to the Black Chamber of Commerce in Milwaukee. So, again, speaking to a clear constituency interest there.”
Not only is Wisconsin politically volatile in its purple nature, but the scheduling of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July creates an automatic association for voters connecting the state with the Republican Party — a link Prasch said the Biden administration is clearly trying to break.
“For many Wisconsin voters, who maybe are not deeply politically engaged, but they do pay attention to what's going on in their state — they can see ‘Oh, the RNC is here. Perhaps I should think about that in relation to my own vote,’” Prasch said. “I think that’s top of mind for probably a lot of Biden campaign officials.”
Avoiding the Hillary Clinton effect
Beyond that, the Biden campaign’s regular presence in the state perhaps shows that Democrats are keen to avoid past mistakes in which candidates paid too little attention to the swing state.
For example, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not visit Wisconsin at all during her campaign for president in 2016 — a decision that some say might have cost her the election.
“That has to haunt Democratic memories,” Franklin said.
Biden is paving a different path in the region — with visits from seven administration officials, including the president himself, since the start of the year.
Brianna Johnson, a spokesperson for Biden’s reelection campaign in Wisconsin, characterized the ongoing presence in Wisconsin as a push to ensure the state’s residents feel heard.
“It’s clear that Wisconsin is a crucial state this election, which is why President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris have been relentless about showing up, listening to, and ensuring their message reaches Wisconsinites in every corner of the state,” Johnson wrote in an email to the Cap Times.
Specific purpose for each visit
But, as Prasch noted, each visit has had a specific purpose and element of timing.
Harris visited Madison on March 6, speaking with union members, including apprentices, working to build the city’s future Metro Transit storage and maintenance facility for an anticipated fleet of all-electric buses. Earlier that day, the president issued an executive order funneling federal money toward increased government coordination for apprenticeship programs.
The weekend before, first lady Jill Biden spoke at a Women’s History Month celebration in Waukesha — reaffirming Biden's campaign message that the power of the women’s vote in November will pack a punch.
Earlier in the year, President Biden and Harris both visited Wisconsin in late January — Harris to advocate for reproductive freedom at a speech in Waukesha on what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Biden to tout infrastructure funding in Superior where federal money will help fund the bridge connecting the town with Duluth, Minnesota.
Other top administration officials who have visited Wisconsin this year include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who touted Biden’s economic successes during a January stop in Milwaukee, and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, who joined Harris on her most recent trip to Madison.
After promoting his administration’s economic achievements last Wednesday, the president attended a campaign event in Milwaukee. He will travel Thursday to Michigan, where last month he lost 100,000 Democratic primary votes to the “uncommitted” option in protest of his administration’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Organizers are bringing attention to a similar movement here in Wisconsin. Earlier this month, the group Listen to Wisconsin launched a campaign urging Wisconsin Democrats to vote “uninstructed” on the April 2 primary ballot, also in protest over the war in Gaza.
The primary protest in Michigan and sibling movement in Wisconsin demonstrate dissent within the ranks of Democratic voters that the Biden administration would be foolish to ignore.
“There is a wing of the party that wants to influence (the president’s stance on Gaza) and are showing that through the uncommitted votes and through these protests,” Franklin said. “So, he does have a group within the party that he needs to worry about, and that's especially prominent among young voters, who were pretty important in the 2020 election.”
With Biden clinching the presumptive Democratic nomination Tuesday night, the ballot protests won’t necessarily hurt his primary performances but could prove dangerous if he doesn’t win back the voters before November.
“If you are in the Biden camp, there is reason to be concerned,” Prasch said.
Where is Donald Trump?
On the other hand, Biden’s biggest contender has not yet made a campaign stop in Wisconsin.
This could be partially attributed to the fact that, unlike Biden, Trump faced a slightly more competitive primary. While the former Republican president far outpolled and outperformed his competitor in former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who has since withdrawn from the race — the publicity surrounding the Republican primary battle far outweighed the near-certain anointing of Biden as the nominee at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August.
It was also announced late Tuesday that Trump has enough delegates to be named the RNC’s presumptive nominee.
While Biden’s visits have been topical and targeted — he spoke to an audience of just over 100 on Wednesday — Trump has positioned himself as a man who loves a crowd.
“If you were to ask just an average voter what they know about Trump in the context of a presidential campaign, these large gatherings of people and the types of speeches at these events appear to many to be active, engaged, energetic, there is definitely a kind of rally quality to them,” Prasch said.
A visit from the former Republican president is surely imminent, Prasch said. It’s just a matter of when.
