Here & Now

Campaigning Through COVID

Frederica Freyberg:

Green Bay has been hard hit with COVID. That’s where thousands of people gathered, only some wearing masks, at a Donald Trump rally this afternoon. Joe Biden, seen here live in Milwaukee, set up a socially distanced space. He’s speaking right now in a hangar at Mitchell Field to a couple dozen supporters.

That outbreak has been building all year long and “Here & Now” Senior Political Reporter Zac Schultz tells us how the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the state of the presidential race in Wisconsin.

[cheers and applause]

P.A. Announcer:

The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Zac Schultz:

On January 14th, Donald Trump held a rally in downtown Milwaukee. Both Republicans and Democrats assumed it would be the first of many presidential candidate visits.

Ben Wikler:

Number one, Wisconsin is the battleground state that could tip the entire presidential race one way or the other.

Andrew Hitt:

So I think everybody sort of realizes that the road to the White House runs through Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

On that night, Donald Trump laid out his case for reelection, with a statement that would be completely up-ended over the next nine months.

Donald Trump:

As we begin the year, our economy is booming, wages are rising, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling and America is the envy of the entire world.

[cheers and applause]

Zac Schultz:

Most of the people in the audience were likely unaware the World Health Organization held a briefing that very day on the novel coronavirus that had been discovered in China saying, “from the information we have, it is possible there is limited human-to-human transmission.” The first case appeared in Wisconsin three weeks later on February 5th. That was the first time the COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the presidential election in Wisconsin. As cases began to rise, Governor Tony Evers declared a health emergency.

Tony Evers:

And that all steps are being taken to stop the spread of this virus.

Zac Schultz:

Instead of a heated Democratic presidential primary, we never saw a candidate in Wisconsin. And Joe Biden’s win on April 7 was an afterthought.

Mike Pence:

Anybody else here for four more years for President Donald Trump in the White House?

[cheers and applause]

Zac Schultz:

By the middle of June, Wisconsin’s seven-day average was at 304 new cases a day and Mike Pence came to Pewaukee promoting Trump’s message that states should be opening up their economies.

Mike Pence:

Some 40 states just like Wisconsin are opening up again.

Zac Schultz:

But the race in Wisconsin was about to receive its second major COVID shock as Joe Biden’s team announced the Democratic National Convention would be going virtual and all the plans about using the convention to energize Wisconsin’s Democrats were lost.

Joe Biden:

I accept this nomination for President of the United States of America.

Zac Schultz:

While Joe Biden accepted the nomination from Delaware, Donald Trump tried to take advantage of his absence, holding a rally in Oshkosh.

Donald Trump:

This is the most important election we’ve ever had, in my opinion.

Zac Schultz:

While Wisconsin hit an average of 720 new cases per day, he started making promises about a vaccine.

Donald Trump:

Three vaccines are in the final stages of clinical trials and we’re mass producing doses already of that vaccine because we think it works and we’re going to have it out very quickly. We will defeat the China virus.

Zac Schultz:

By September it looked like Trump’s handling of COVID-19 might be replaced as the most important issue in the race. The shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha and the subsequent protests and violence coincided with a momentary lull in Wisconsin’s daily caseload. But even when Donald Trump and Joe Biden visited Kenosha, their approach to the virus was apparent.

Donald Trump:

If you more comfortable, you’ll say a couple of words, you might want to take the masks off. Otherwise you can leave them on. Either way you want. Look how fast you took that off.

Joe Biden:

The words of a president matter. No matter the good, bad or indifferent, they matter.

Zac Schultz:

September almost felt like a normal presidential year, with both candidates traveling the state. But COVID-19 cases were rising fast, with more than 2,000 new cases confirmed on the 17th, when Donald Trump flew into Central Wisconsin Airport.

Donald Trump:

We’re doing a great job relative to other countries on the coronavirus.

Zac Schultz:

A week later Joe Biden was in Manitowoc as the nation reached 200,000 dead from the coronavirus.

Joe Biden:

What worries me now is we’ve been living with this pandemic for so long I worry we’re risking becoming numb to the toll it has taken on us and our country.

Zac Schultz:

Then came the third big COVID shock, as Wisconsin’s average caseload hit 2400 a day, Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19.

Donald Trump:

I’m going to Walter Reed hospital. I think I’m doing very well.

Zac Schultz:

Joe Biden’s campaign in Wisconsin went virtual. But two weeks later as Wisconsin’s average caseload hit 2700 a day, Mike Pence was back in front of a mostly unmasked crowd in Waukesha.

Mike Pence:

Through the power of American science and medicine, we will eradicate the China virus.

Zac Schultz:

Four days later, Donald Trump told an audience in Janesville he was now immune, and despite all evidence to the contrary, he implied the coronavirus was under control.

Donald Trump:

We’re rounding the corner. You’ll see it. We’re rounding the corner. And we have unbelievable–the vaccines are unbelievable.

Zac Schultz:

Experts agree a vaccine won’t be available until next year, but yet again, Trump promised it would be here soon.

Donald Trump:

But we have unbelievable vaccines. They’re coming out real soon. And the therapeutics are unbelievable and the cures — excuse me. I’m here.

[cheers and applause]

Zac Schultz:

Trump continued to blitz the state in the final week even as cases soared above 5,000 a day, proving that despite the pandemic, the presidential politics remain the same.

Donald Trump:

And you know what, we win Wisconsin, we win the whole ball game.

[cheers and applause]

Zac Schultz:

Reporting from Madison, I’m Zac Schultz for “Here & Now.”