Midwestern swing states are expected to play a decisive role in the presidential race, and Republicans hope holding their nominating convention in battleground Wisconsin will tip the scales in their favor. Former President Donald Trump also underscored the strategic importance of these states when he announced his pick for vice president, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The 39-year-old is expected to make his pitch to voters on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in his first speech since being named Trump’s running mate. The location of the speech is notable. The last two presidential races have been decided by roughly 20,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to state election records. “Wisconsin is the state that gave Donald Trump his 270th, his winning Electoral College vote, in 2016, and it did the same thing for Joe Biden in 2020,” John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University Law School, said.Republicans hope holding their convention in Wisconsin will give them a boost at the ballot box. “When you highlight a battleground state, I think it can have a profound impact,” RNC Host Committee Chair Reince Priebus said. Wisconsin is one of three Midwestern states, alongside Michigan and Pennsylvania, often called the “blue wall” because Democrats won them consistently for decades. Yet the latest polls suggest it’s a toss-up in all three states right now. Polling averages compiled by 538 suggest President Biden is trailing Trump slightly, though by a smaller margin than other swing states.”It’s hard to draw an Electoral College map that gets Biden to 270 votes without him winning these upper Midwestern states,” Johnson said. Josh Marcus-Blank, a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris campaign, said in a statement, “We know this will be a close election, and only the Biden-Harris campaign is doing the work to win.” Marcus-Blank said they’ve opened more than 200 offices and have hired more than 1,200 staffers across battleground states.”In the Blue Wall and across the country, we’ll continue to highlight the contrast between President Biden’s positive vision for the country and Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to take away Americans’ rights and freedoms and make the economy work for billionaires instead of working people,” he said.In a social media post announcing his vice presidential pick, Trump said that Vance “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond.”Vance first rose to fame for his personal memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which details his impoverished upbringing in Rust Belt Ohio, his mother’s struggles with substance abuse, and the strife of working-class Americans. Trump and Vance will hold their first joint rally since Vance joined the presidential ticket this Saturday in Michigan.
Midwestern swing states are expected to play a decisive role in the presidential race, and Republicans hope holding their nominating convention in battleground Wisconsin will tip the scales in their favor.
Former President Donald Trump also underscored the strategic importance of these states when he announced his pick for vice president, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The 39-year-old is expected to make his pitch to voters on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in his first speech since being named Trump’s running mate.
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The location of the speech is notable. The last two presidential races have been decided by roughly 20,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to state election records.
“Wisconsin is the state that gave Donald Trump his 270th, his winning Electoral College vote, in 2016, and it did the same thing for Joe Biden in 2020,” John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University Law School, said.
Republicans hope holding their convention in Wisconsin will give them a boost at the ballot box.
“When you highlight a battleground state, I think it can have a profound impact,” RNC Host Committee Chair Reince Priebus said.
Wisconsin is one of three Midwestern states, alongside Michigan and Pennsylvania, often called the “blue wall” because Democrats won them consistently for decades.
Yet the latest polls suggest it’s a toss-up in all three states right now. Polling averages compiled by 538 suggest President Biden is trailing Trump slightly, though by a smaller margin than other swing states.
“It’s hard to draw an Electoral College map that gets Biden to 270 votes without him winning these upper Midwestern states,” Johnson said.
Josh Marcus-Blank, a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris campaign, said in a statement, “We know this will be a close election, and only the Biden-Harris campaign is doing the work to win.” Marcus-Blank said they’ve opened more than 200 offices and have hired more than 1,200 staffers across battleground states.
“In the Blue Wall and across the country, we’ll continue to highlight the contrast between President Biden’s positive vision for the country and Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to take away Americans’ rights and freedoms and make the economy work for billionaires instead of working people,” he said.
In a social media post announcing his vice presidential pick, Trump said that Vance “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond.”
Vance first rose to fame for his personal memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which details his impoverished upbringing in Rust Belt Ohio, his mother’s struggles with substance abuse, and the strife of working-class Americans.
Trump and Vance will hold their first joint rally since Vance joined the presidential ticket this Saturday in Michigan.
