VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

The number of visits to Wisconsin by 2024 presidential candidates is dizzying. Vice President Kamala Harris was back in the state on Oct. 3 and former President Donald Trump was in Wisconsin multiple times over the previous week.

With three campaign stops in four days, Wisconsin saw a lot more of Trump in the ensuing week.

“It’s great to be back in this beautiful state,” Trump told supporters on Oct. 1.

A few days before on Sept. 28, the Republican presidential candidate was in Prairie du Chien, explaining his latest plan to address immigration.

“We will seal the border. We will stop the invasion immediately. We’ll begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country,” said Trump.

On Oct 1, he made two Wisconsin stops – one in the village of Waunakee in Dane County and the other in the city of Milwaukee.

At these events, Trump laid out plans to address economic issues, including reducing taxes for American manufacturing companies from 21% to 15%.

To bring down the cost of energy, Trump said, “My plan will cut energy prices in half within 12 months.”

Another notable part of Trump’s visits was their location.

Republican former Gov. Tommy Thompson encouraged Trump to visit the Madison and Milwaukee areas very intentionally.

“Dane County has the third most Republican votes in the state of Wisconsin. And all we have to do is increase them,” said Thompson at the Waunakee campaign stop.

“And that’s up to us, ladies and gentlemen, to carry Dane County up to 30%, not 26%, but 30%,” he continued. “Talk to your neighbor. Talk to your relatives. Talk to your friends. Let’s do it for America.”

The importance Wisconsin voters will have on the 2024 presidential race resonated.

“If we win Wisconsin, we win,” said Trump in Waunakee.

Not to be outdone by Trump’s visits to the lion’s den of Democrats, Vice President Kamala Harris took her presidential campaign to the city of Ripon on Oct. 3, joined by former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming and prominent critic of Trump.

“So we are gathered here today in Ripon, not far, as the congresswoman mentioned, from a small building where the Republican Party was born in 1854,” Harris said.

If elected, Harris said she would address international conflicts like the war in Ukraine.

“Democracy and freedom are not only at stake here at home. They are also at stake around the world. As president of the United States, I will strengthen, not abdicate, America’s global leadership,” she said.

Liz Cheney is the daughter of Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, both of whom have endorsed Harris.

“I tell you, I have never voted for a Democrat. But this year, I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Liz Cheney said.

Whether this tactic of appealing to their outnumbered supporters in the Republican and Democratic strongholds of Wisconsin will work for either candidate — for now — is an untested strategy.