Democratic Party offices around Wisconsin have been fielding a surge of requests for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz yard signs, but they've had to tell eager supporters that they don't have them yet due to the late change in the Democratic party ticket. Matt Moreno is the chair of the Waukesha Democratic Party, and he says there's also been an increase in volunteer interest.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How does the demand for the Harris-Walz signs compare to the demand for Biden-Harris?
There’s been a substantial spike in demand for Harris yard signs. Right now, we're averaging between 50 and 100 requests a day for these signs compared to 20 or so for the Biden signs when he was still at the top of the ticket.
How does that compare to the 2020 Biden-Harris signs?
The current demand for Harris is a little bit higher than the 2020 demand for the Biden signs. In 2020 we put out about 3,000 Biden signs across Waukesha County. Right now, we're at 2,500 requests for the Harris signs. I expect us to probably get close to about 5,000 by election day.
Are there any logistical challenges in meeting the demand for these signs in this campaign and how are they being addressed?
Yeah, currently we don't have them yet just because of the timeline. It's been less than a month since Harris took over the top of the ticket. It's been two to three weeks since Walz got named her VP. So we don't have signs available yet just because nationally, there are millions of them being ordered, and there are only so many print shops that are unionized that are doing it. Plus, the shipping and logistics of the wires and the signs themselves. What we're doing to address it is they're breaking it down state by state and region by region within the state. Waukesha County is going to be a regional hub getting a delivery of signs in early September, where then we will distribute them to other counties in our region. Then, for us, it's going to be logistically really challenging to get out roughly 3,000 signs over the course of a weekend.
Are there any issues or campaign messages from Harris, and maybe some that you've seen from Trump, that resonate with you the most now that Harris is the Democratic nominee?
From what I've seen, a lot of the same Trump tactics as he's always used which is kind of creating a fear and trying to otherize the candidate. The way he did it with Joe Biden by calling Joe Biden old and the way he's doing it with Kamala by leaning into her racial identity and trying to otherize her from people.
Have you noticed any change in volunteer signups since Biden's endorsement of Harris?
We've seen a massive spike in engagement through volunteers. As we saw recently reported statewide, we've seen over 43,000 new volunteers. Waukesha County has seen a substantial increase where we're seeing a ton of people coming out of the woodwork who want to be involved again or involved for the first time, in many cases, to feed on this hope and joy dynamic that we're seeing out of the Harris-Walz ticket.
How would you describe that heightened interest and enthusiasm?
I would say joyous and hopeful. We're kind of getting back to that Obama-level messaging of people being excited about the future, and I think that's going to be what defines this election between Harris and Trump, is who is talking about a hopeful, joyous future versus who is demonizing and talking about a fear rhetoric-based messaging.
What issues or campaign points are resonating most, would you say, with local voters now that Harris is the focus on the democratic side?
Issue-wise, I think women's health and reproductive freedom is one of the biggest issues we hear about a lot, as well as tackling the costs of goods and services around the country and how we deal with inflation. The prescription drug negotiation for Medicare is a huge issue. We've heard a lot of good feedback about it because it's going to save seniors across this county tens of thousands of dollars a year. But I think the biggest change overall is the vibe change. There's a new vibe in this race, and the vibes are much better with the Harris-Walz campaign than we’re seeing with the Vance and Trump ticket.
