WAUNAKEE, Wis. (AP) – Former President Donald Trump plans to spend the hours before Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate campaigning in Wisconsin, making a stop in a key Democratic county to Democrat hope Kamala Harris to win that key state.
Trump plans to visit a manufacturing plant in Waunakee, a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin’s capital, in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. Trump has never campaigned in Dane County before and has not visited as president.
Later on Tuesday, Trump is expected to hold an event at a museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city and home to the largest number of Democratic voters and the second largest number of Republicans. His appearance there will also allow him to reach the city’s conservative suburbs, a part of Wisconsin where his support has dwindled, but where he needs to do well to win.
Trump is expected to focus his speech on the economy. On Saturday he held a rally in western Wisconsin where he held Harris accountable for crimes committed by people who are in the country illegally.
The two stops come ahead of Tuesday’s debate between Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, a senator from Ohio, and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota.
Dane County, where Trump made his first stop, is the fastest growing county in Wisconsin and an economic engine for the state, fueled by employment in the health care and technology sectors. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin.
The Dane population grew by about 30,000 people between 2016 and 2020. Since then, it has increased by another 13,000 people, according to the latest census estimate.
That’s a challenge for Republicans, especially since nearly 90% of the county’s registered voters voted in 2020. Joe Biden won 75% of the vote that year in Dane, ahead of Trump by 181,000 votes in the county, while he won the state. less than 21,000 votes. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump in Dane by 47 points, while the Republican won the state by less than one point.
However, Dane is the county with the third largest number of Republican voters in the entire state.
2024-10-01 22:04:47
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