Nestled in the heart of Wisconsin’s Driftless area, the city of Westby could be considered an unlikely place for a visit from the President of the United States. But Westby — population 2,300 — welcomed President Joe Biden to the Vernon Electric Cooperative all the same

“Hello — hello, Wisconsin,” he said.

The visit to Westby marked Biden’s first trip to Wisconsin since dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the job in 2024.

“Vice President Kamala Harris fought like hell for all of you and for the future worthy of your aspirations,” said Biden.

The visit is part of the president’s efforts to highlight his “Investing in America” agenda, including new investments into rural electric cooperatives like the one that hosted him.

“It includes Dairyland Power Cooperative that will receive $580 million to develop and purchase solar car wind power energy storage right here in Wisconsin and all across the Midwest,” Biden said.

Just one week earlier, former President Donald Trump held a town hall-style event in La Crosse, about 30 miles from Westby. Trump used the opportunity to criticize the Biden administration and promote his own 2024 campaign.

“I’m not a fan of his. He was the worst president,” Trump said.

Biden also took time to criticize the former president’s administration.

“He left office with the largest annual deficit in American history — $3 trillion,” Biden said about Trump.

These dueling visits from Biden and Trump highlight Wisconsin’s status as a key battleground state.

“I don’t think it’s an accident that Biden is the one being deployed to a community 30 miles away from where Trump just was,” said Allison Prasch, a UW-Madison communications professor and expert on presidential campaign strategies.

Prasch said parallel campaign visits are an old strategy, and sending Biden instead of Harris to a rural area was a smart choice.

“Biden can speak to that community in a way that the actual nominee cannot,” said Prasch.

In 2020, nearly half of Wisconsin voters came from small towns and rural areas, with a majority supporting Trump. Westby is in Vernon County, where a majority of voters supported Trump in 2020, but only by a few hundred votes. Biden’s choice to visit Westby may be an attempt to narrow this gap.

“This is becoming a tradition for me. I have come to see Joe Biden every time he’s been in town,” said Monica Kruse, a resident of Onalaska.

Voters at the event were enthusiastic about the high-profile visit, especially now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the nominee.

“We all would have voted for Joe if that was the choice. But this adds more energy, enthusiasm and a new message instead of same old, same old,” said La Crosse resident Robert Weeth.

Did Biden make a good decision dropping out and endorsing Harris?

“I think — yes, I was very concerned at the time leading up to that decision that we were losing a lot of ground,” Kruse said.

As both parties intensify their campaign efforts in Wisconsin, it’s clear that in a tight race, votes in every corner of the state matter in November.