The economy in 2026: Rising prices at the pump and in grocery stores, and steady jobs but stagnant wages.

“Economy-wise, it’s mostly, don’t screw things up,” said Ben Sagan, campaign chairman of the Republican Party of Outagamie County.

“Everyone agrees that the Democrats are the people who are truly talking about affordability,” said William Garcia, who is chair of the 3CD Democrats of Wisconsin.

When it comes to making things more affordable, supporters of both major political parties believe their side has the answers.

“I think we’re going to have more tax cuts when it comes back to the Republican Party,” said Pam Van Handel, who is chair of the Republican Party of Outagamie County.

J. Michael Collins, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs said the state’s unemployment rate is below the national average, but too many families don’t bring home enough money. In his words, economic indicators don’t always tell the whole story of how Wisconsinites are coping, or how they feel like they’re coping when it comes to the economy.

“There’s things they can control and things they can’t. So housing, you know, I got to pay — I got a roof over my head. I got to pay for gas. I’ve got to get to work. I have to have transportation. I need to have food. For young families: childcare. And Wisconsin is one of the most expensive states for childcare,” Collins said. “These are non-negotiable, right? So, as a result, what gets pushed to the side? It’s, you know, any of the extras. It’s the eating out. It’s the replacing that appliance. It’s all those other kinds of things that people have to cut back on.”

Out back of Town Center Park in Grand Chute, a 20-year tradition is fully in motion on Aug. 27.

“It’s the end of summer,” Sagan said. “This is our annual corn roast.”

It’s an all-out patriotic and political picnic for Republican voters and their candidates to meet and greet with each other.

“We’ve got a grill we picked up for like $20 from a sale, and we’re making brats, burgers, hot dogs — and corn,” Sagan shared. “We hold it just after the primary. So now we know who all the candidates are going to be after that. You know you’re getting ready for the general election and so then it becomes who needs what, what strategies we need to implement.”

In between buttery corn on the cob, brats and potato salad, talk centers around the number one issue for voters nationwide: the economy. From the smoky grill, Sagan said he wants to see less government spending.

“Housing is going up, gas is going up, OK? There’s loads of increases, right? Those increases are a reaction to what happened in the past,” he said. “Trying to offset them by doing additional spending is ridiculous.”

Van Handel is the lead organizer of the annual corn roast. From the party’s headquarters in a nearby strip mall in Appleton, surrounded by campaign signs, shirts, hats and buttons — and all things Republican — she explained that part of her job is to rally support for the party’s candidates.

Van Handel and her husband run a small machine shop just up the road, where the impact of the economy hits close to home, especially for her employees. She would love to see more tax cuts, especially no income tax on tips or overtime at the state level.

“Owning a machine shop with employees that are younger adults, trying to buy a home, gas and groceries are high — I think it’s tough right now for everybody,” Van Handal said. “When I talk to, like I said, the age groups of the 30 to 40 year-olds, and you hear they’re not going out and doing stuff and maybe vacationing as much because all their money has to go into saving for a house, living every day. … We’ve got to get prices down somehow, and I don’t know the answer.”

At the Republican corn roast, Van Handel and others hoped their candidates do have answers. When it was time to hear from Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany, all ears were front and center.

“We’re going to end the 400-year property tax increase — day one, we’re going to end it. We’re going to make Wisconsin more affordable. We’re going to return all of the budget surplus regardless of how much it is. They’re talking $3 billion now. Well, however much it is, we’re returning all of this surplus to you, the people that created it. Yes, we are going to return all of it to you,” said the Republican nominee for governor.

One hundred and sixty miles to the east, Democratic voters met up at the La Crosse County Fairgrounds on Sept. 2 for an annual corn roast of their own.

“This is Brad Pfaff’s old-fashioned corn roast. It is a decades old tradition here in La Crosse County,” said Garcia, a party activist for the 3rd Congressional District.

It’s a chance to meet, mingle and get up close and personal with the candidates up and down the Democratic ticket.

“The general idea is just really a way for people to come together and learn from each other,” he explained. “And especially hear from candidates, hear from our elected officials, so that we can really understand what’s happening all the way in Madison, and then have a say and tell them what we think should be happening in Madison.”

Garcia said what should be happening is trust in a Democratic-led strategy that promises to lower the cost of living.

“Democrats are the people who are truly talking about affordability. We’re the people really talking about how to fix property taxes, how to maintain our public schools.,” he said.

Voters took the party up on that offer.

“I wanted to be able to meet the candidates,” said Robin Schmidt, a resident of Onalaska who is new to the party.

Schmidt described in more detail what she was seeking.

“You only have a few minutes, but it’s important to see our politicians as people. And this event allows you to do that, because you can have that one-on-one facetime,” she said.”We have a big gap between the folks who have more than enough and those who are barely getting by. And to me, I feel like we need to have opportunities for people at the bottom to be able to afford to raise their children, to afford to be able send them to college someday, to afford groceries, basic needs and health care costs.”

Garcia emphasized this economic focus.

“Our expectations on the economy is that we elect people who actually care about fixing the economy,” he said.

The evening ended with Democratic candidate for governor David Crowley making his personal pitch at the picnic and political rally.

“Together, we’ll cut taxes, we will lower health care costs,” Crowley said. “We’re raising three daughters in the same neighborhood that I grew up in. And you know what? We got a mortgage and a car payment to pay as well. And I’ve lived and know first-hand that our economy is not working for folks. Is it working for you?”

“No!” responded audience members.

“Absolutely not,” Crowley continued. “It’s not working for regular people. And we also need to make sure that government is more transparent and held accountable.”

Like these two traditional corn roast events, Crowley and Tiffany may be miles apart on what it will take to better the economy. The hope is that talk at these casual and annual picnic-style political get-togethers give voters something motivating to chew on before they make their decisions on Election Day.