Here & Now

How the Milwaukee Metro's Electorate Is Shifting in 2022

Scottie Lee Meyers:

DeAngelo Bester, the executive director for the Center for Racial and Gender Equity, is one of the lead organizers behind this voter registration party at the Sherman Phoenix marketplace. Democrats hope events like this could lead to higher turnout among Black voters, a key constituency for the party.

DeAngelo Bester:

What we’re trying to do is just, again, educate the voters here in Milwaukee and even across the state about making sure to register to vote, making sure they have all the information they need to register to vote.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

Milwaukee’s Black voter turnout was down in 2020. Stricter voting laws and the pandemic are two big reasons experts often cite for the decline. Thats why Bester and his team are knocking on a lot of doors right now.

DeAngelo Bester:

We’re hoping to knock on about 40,000 doors total in the state between, you know, when we started in around June through Election Day. We want to have around 15,000 conversations with voters. And we’re hoping to get, you know, 70% turnout for the people that we actually have conversations with.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

Republicans are looking to increase their support among Hispanic voters with a new initiative called Operacin Vamos, which launched in several key swing states including Wisconsin. Latino voters have typically favored Democrats, but not always by wide margins. They’re not leaving in droves but there is a measurable shift.

Rick Scott:

I know that Hispanic voters have basically been taken for granted by Democrats.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

U.S. Senator Rick Scott of Florida is helping to lead these outreach efforts, which have sent campaign workers to knock on doors in neighborhoods in Milwaukee and throughout the state, trying to make inroads with Wisconsin’s largest minority group.

Rick Scott:

Hispanic voters are fed up with the public school system around the country right now They want a better economic market. They don’t want to see inflation. They want to live in safe communities. If we talk about those issues then we’re going to win elections.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

During our interview with Deb Dassow, the chair of the Democratic Party of Ozaukee County, people kept coming in to request yard signs. You’re probably seeing more in the area than ever before. Though still red, Ozaukee County recently saw the biggest increase in Democratic voters in the state. Waukesha County is second on that same list. It’s part of the purpling of the suburbs.

Deb Dassow:

I do get a sense that it’s changing. I’m not going to say it’s like a ginormous swing but it is, as I said, we are just picking up a couple percentage points every single year.

Scottie Lee Meyers:

At the center of the suburban swing are women, who Dassow says have energized the party after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Deb Dassow:

I had a woman stop in right after the Dobbs decision. She came in with her two little children. She had on a My body, my choice t-shirt on and she said, I’ve never voted for a Democrat before. I’ve always been a Libertarian. She was young. I’d say in her thirties. And she said, she goes, sign me up. What can I do?”