Both major party presidential campaigns are focusing on vote-rich Waukesha County early this week. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will be in Brookfield Monday night, while Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance campaigned Sunday night in Waukesha.
Here's why there’s a push for votes, one county west of Milwaukee: There’s a rule of thumb in statewide elections that the Republican candidate needs to get 60% of the vote in Waukesha County to have a good chance of winning Wisconsin. It’s the biggest county for GOP votes — topping even much larger Milwaukee County. Waukesha is also the third biggest county for Democrat votes.
Republican Donald Trump got to nearly 62% in Waukesha County when he won the state and presidency in 2016, but slipped just below 60 in his narrow loss four years ago.
Democrats are trying to keep Trump on the downward percentage slide.
“So, I know you’re battle tested and I know you’re ready. And I’m so proud of Wisconsin. So, go Waukesha!," actor Bradley Whitford, of The West Wing television series, said Saturday morning at Democratic Party offices in Waukesha. He joined four of his castmates to fire up about 50 volunteers who went to knock on doors for GOTEV, or get out the early vote, ahead of early voting which starts Tuesday in Wisconsin.
Waukesha resident Becky Thomas said it’s the first time she was doing doors. She said she feels democracy is at stake, and with the Trump-backed national rollback of Roe vs. Wade protections for abortion, so are reproductive rights.
“I’m doing it for my daughter and nieces and all the women. We’re definitely being attacked, I think. Our rights are being taken away," Thomas said.
Thomas said she believe Kamala Harris can win more than the 39% of Waukesha County votes that President Joe Biden got four years ago.
Thomas’ friend and co-canvasser Shelly Kindrai also sees Harris moving above 39%. “Waukesha people are not stupid!," Kindrai emphasized.
For example, Kindrai believes many will listen to persuasion about the economy. “They might think that, 'Oh, because the cost of potato chips is high at the grocery store, that must mean that’s the president’s fault.' We are looking at a good economy. Employment is up. Unemployment is down," Kindrai told WUWM.
But at GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s rally Sunday night at the Waukesha County airport, as recorded music blared lyrics about the "red, white and blue," Menomonee Falls resident Brian Bliesner said his enthusiasm for Donald Trump is much stronger than four years ago. Bliesner said there’s been a lot of what he calls negative change since then.
“The border, inflation, foreign policy, the withdrawal from Afghanistan that was a disaster, I think, you know, the blurring of the position of male and female. That’s just the top five, I guess," Bliesner said.
But Monday night in Brookfield, the Harris campaign will make another try to pick up support from otherwise Republican voters. The vice president and former House member Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), who has endorsed Harris, will have what the Democrats say will be a "bi-partisan conversation about the threats of a second Trump term, and to outline an agenda for the American people."
Vance, in response to a question from WUWM, told Sunday night’s crowd what he thinks of Cheney. “My opinion of Liz Cheney is low. Is that good enough?, " he answered.
It wasn’t, for the crowd that urged Vance to continue. So, the Ohio Senator did so: “She is not motivated by love of this country. She is a resentful, petty, small person. And, if Kamala Harris wants to parade her around, she’s welcome to."
Harris and Cheney also plan to campaign Monday in the other so-called "Blue Wall" states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The Harris/Walz campaign said Sunday night that "Vance’s attack on fellow Republicans won’t distract from the growing number of conservatives who are endorsing Harris and rejecting Trump’s extreme agenda."
Some of those conservatives may be from Waukesha County.
