Announcer:
The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production. You’re watching “Here & Now” 2024 election coverage.

Donald Trump:
It’s a great country but we have to take it back.

Frederica Freyberg:
Presidential campaigns keep flying in to flyover country. This time, Donald Trump holds a town hall in La Crosse.

David Helpap:
The Trump endorsement can really help in the primary, but it might be less so in the general election.

Frederica Freyberg:
And what effect could his backing have on local races?
I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” we look at the questions and answers from Donald Trump’s western Wisconsin town hall and an update on the general election for the 8th congressional, where the MAGA Republican will face the pro-choice Democrat. Then what’s next for Lincoln Hills after the death of a guard? And finally, how is the economy faring? We examine the numbers and people’s attitudes. It’s “Here & Now” for August 30.

Announcer:
Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:
Former president Donald Trump was in La Crosse last night for a town hall event. “Here & Now” reporter Steven Potter was there and has this report.

Crowd:
USA! USA!

Donald Trump:
We love our country. We love our country. No way. It’s amazing and it’s a great country, but we have to take it back.

Steven Potter:
In an uncharacteristically short campaign event of just over 30 minutes, Donald Trump returned to Wisconsin and the city of La Crosse Thursday night to again make his case for the presidency.

Donald Trump:
We’re going to bring it back, and we’re going to make it healthy and beautiful and better than ever.

Steven Potter:
With most arriving early in the morning, thousands stood in long lines outside the La Crosse Center hoping they’d get a seat. Trump superfan Stella Guy arrived a full day early. She was the first person in line.

Stella Guy:
I got here last night about 4 p.m. and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve stayed out all night long and I’m ready to see him today.

Steven Potter:
What about his political stance and specific issues do you support?

Stella Guy:
The wall being built, he — bring our taxes down, help our economy out. I mean, he’s just for everything.

Steven Potter:
These were issues that also resonated with Onalaska resident Sharyl Huskamp.

Sharyl Huskamp:
I’m against what happened at the border. I’m — we need our economy to turn around. And it doesn’t look like the Democrats are going to do that. Our country needs to run as a business, pay our bills, pay our debt, take care of American people first.

Steven Potter:
In all, more than 7,000 attendees made it into the arena. Unlike other Trump campaign rallies, yesterday’s event was billed as a town hall where he was joined on stage by a moderator and took questions from pre-selected crowd members.

Male audience member:
What’s your plan to make life more affordable and bring down inflation for someone like me?

Donald Trump:
It’s probably the question I get most. You know, they say you’re going to vote with your stomach. I don’t know if you’ve heard it, but it’s a little bit true. And groceries, food has gone up at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.

Steven Potter:
Another of only a handful of questions asked Thursday night was about immigration.

Female audience member:
My concern is that illegal immigration is threatening opportunities for my children. I worry that it’s taking away jobs from Americans. I’m wondering what will you do about that?

Steven Potter:
Though he didn’t get into specifics, Trump ultimately said he would find a way to fix immigration issues.

Donald Trump:
They’re pouring in at levels never seen before. They’re coming in by millions and millions, and a lot of them are taking the jobs for the Black population, the Hispanic population and unions are going to be very badly affected.

Steven Potter:
And he made more promises.

Donald Trump:
So we’re going to win this election. We’re going to turn this country around. We’re going to become an unbelievable growth country. And your boy is going to have the greatest job.

Steven Potter:
Democrats said not to believe any of it and urged voters to vote for Trump’s opponent.

Sara Rodriquez:
Kamala Harris is the only one in this race to put forward a plan that would actually lower costs for working families.

Steven Potter:
In the heart of a Democratic city in a swing state, Trump also made an eyebrow-raising promise to cover the cost of in vitro fertilization.

Donald Trump:
The government is going to pay for it, or we’re going to get or mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great. We’re going to do that.

Steven Potter:
With that, Trump’s short campaign stop made big government waves with the announcement that in vitro fertilization would be funded by taxpayers, or a mandate on private insurance to cover it, something that Democrats called “unserious.” Reporting from La Crosse for “Here & Now,” I’m Steven Potter.

Frederica Freyberg:
On the other side of the state, Republican businessman Tony Wied won a three-way primary in the 8th congressional district in northeast Wisconsin. Wied will face Democrat Kristin Lyerly in the November election. “Here & Now” reporter Aditi Debnath has more on the race.

Aditi Debnath:
Doctor Kristin Lyerly is a health care provider running for Congress in northeast Wisconsin.

Kristin Lyerly:
It’s not all that different, really. When someone comes to see me, they have a problem. Just like a constituent.

Aditi Debnath:
She’s running as a Democrat for a seat that’s been held by Republicans since 2011.

David Helpap:
It’s one of those districts that, it appears, I think, really solidly Republican, right? Because for the past ten years plus, there has been a Republican representative, but at the same time, it is not been really firmly set in stone. And the district really does vary.

Aditi Debnath:
Lyerly will face Republican businessman Tony Wied in the November election. Wied did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. However, in an audio interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, he said this on the primary election night.

Tony Wied:
We did a good job in this process and the voters made the decision. And I’m thankful for their call.

Aditi Debnath:
Tony Wied’s platform is largely based on his endorsement from former president Donald Trump. UW-Green Bay political scientist David Helpap says the Trump endorsement was critical in Wied’s primary win.

David Helpap:
The question is, will it provide help in that general election? Because what we’ve seen with some other races is the Trump endorsement can really help in the primary but it might be less so in the general election.

Aditi Debnath:
National politics could also play a role in Lyerly’s campaign now that Democrats are rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee.

David Helpap:
Maybe Lyerly can ride that as well, right? To use that enthusiasm to say, “Hey, this is where we’re going as a party. This is where we’re going as a country. I can be your local representative of that.”

Aditi Debnath:
Lyerly’s campaign emphasizes her role as an ob-gyn. She focuses on issues like abortion access and rural health care.

Kristin Lyerly:
We don’t have enough doctors in rural areas, and we’re not doing enough to address that. Add on top of that, complex abortion bans like what we’ve seen in Wisconsin. We know the data shows that that affects the number of doctors that we train.

Aditi Debnath:
In a debate ahead of the primary, Wied said his health care policy includes reducing federal spending on Medicare.

Tony Wied:
We’re seeing health care companies continue to merge. And what’s happening there, and we see it, you know, whenever there is less competition, you’re going to continue to have higher prices. And that’s a big concern for me. So we need to dig into that. We need more competitiveness.

Aditi Debnath:
The candidates contrast on most issues, including economic policy.

Tony Wied:
We need to find additional ways for companies and businesses to grow and more tax incentives. So I will be an advocate for our businesses. That’s the driver of our economy here in district eight.

Kristin Lyerly:
There aren’t enough child care providers, paid family and medical leave. All of these things will help people as we are trying to further our economy.

Aditi Debnath:
Lyerly is paying close attention to the district’s swing voters, which she’ll need to win the general election.

Kristin Lyerly:
There’s always that nugget of shared values where you can start and grow out from there. I never start from are you a Republican or a Democrat? It doesn’t make any sense and it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Aditi Debnath:
Leading up to November, Helpap says both candidates have work to do activating voters in their district.

David Helpap:
For him in particular, getting out there and telling people who he is, what his policies are, even if they are very aligned with the former president, still getting people to know that. And for her really pushing those issues that she thinks can motivate people and not just talking to the folks that would sort of naturally vote for a Democratic candidate.

Aditi Debnath:
Wied and Lyerly will each be on the ballot twice on November 5th for the general election and the special election, which determines who will finish the rest of former U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher’s term after his resignation earlier this year. Reporting from Green Bay, I’m Aditi Debnath for “Here & Now.”

Frederica Freyberg:
In the wake of the death of a guard at the Lincoln Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility earlier this summer, for which two youths there have been charged. A federal judge this week declined to allow the continued use of pepper spray to restrain incarcerated juveniles. A legal order following abuse of juveniles over years at Lincoln Hills prohibits the use of pepper spray, mechanical restraints and solitary confinement. But weren’t the northern Wisconsin juvenile correctional facilities supposed to close and new ones be built? We turn to Democratic State Senator LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee, ranking member of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, and member of Joint Finance. And Senator, thanks very much for being here.

LaTonya Johnson:
Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
So the juvenile facilities for boys and girls in Wisconsin seem to be places of despair and danger. What has taken so long to close them?

LaTonya Johnson:
Well, what’s taken an exceptionally long time is the fact that Joint Finance Committee refuses to release all of the funds that are needed to build these facilities in order to close Lincoln Hills. For example, they made their first request in 2019 in October. December, November, no response. Then it was finally denied in February 2020. And that was for about $73 million to create two type one facilities in order for Lincoln Hills to close.

Frederica Freyberg:
We should mention that we did invite a Republican member of Joint Finance, Senator Mary Felzkowski, to join this discussion, but we did not hear back. But to you, what do you say to officers or counselors there whom a court-ordered monitor this week reported expressed fear for their safety?

LaTonya Johnson:
I understand their fear, and they have every right to be fearful. They lost a colleague. Their colleague died trying to do his job. And that’s exceptionally understandable. But I think as the state legislature, we have to take accountability for our part. And that was the failure to get the Department of Corrections the funds that were needed to have Lincoln Hills closed. Lincoln Hills is mandated to close from a juvenile detention center. And we know in order to do that, we have to have other smaller facilities closer to home. For example, Dane County needs a facility as well. There was a request made of $83 million, and that was in 2023, so they could start the creation of their third, type one facility. That was denied and only about $12 million was approved. No, $6 million was approved. And that was for an exploratory event for them to find the land and to start the procedures. So with that timeline, we know that Lincoln Hills won’t be set to close at least until 2029.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what do you say to families whose children are held there with that kind of timeline?

LaTonya Johnson:
They deserve better. Lincoln Hills should have been closed. Their children should have been closer to home a long time ago, and had those funds been approved, Lincoln Hills would have been closed and their children would have been much closer to home.

Frederica Freyberg:
Meanwhile, the youth charged in the beating death of the guard was supposed to be transferred, I understand, to the expanded secure mental health facility at Mendota, but there was no space. So is this emblematic of the larger correctional system with staffing?

LaTonya Johnson:
So as far as that’s concerned, we weren’t — that wasn’t confirmed or denied to us because of HIPAA laws, but I do know that a request was made in January of this year, and that was for additional dollars for the closure of Lincoln Hills and the expansion of Mendota. So Lincoln Hills cannot close without Mendota’s expansion going from, I believe, 29 beds to over 90. That too was denied. That funding wasn’t given to the Department of Corrections until later after Corey’s death, it was approved. And these are the type of things that we can’t continue to see, because it just further postpones the closement — the closure of Lincoln Hills. The Department of Corrections, they know their jobs and they know what money is needed. And the longer it takes for us to approve this, the more inflationary costs we get. For example, the request that was originally made for the facility in Milwaukee was originally requested at $45 million, and that was in 2020. That cost is now costing us $76 million in 2024. So not only is it costing us time, it’s costing us money. And I would, I think it’s fair to say that it has now cost a life.

Frederica Freyberg:
We need to leave it there. Senator LaTonya Johnson, thanks very much.

LaTonya Johnson:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
The economy is a top issue heading into the 2024 election, but how is it actually doing? Workers saw higher wage growth and a faster growing GDP under President Biden, but saw much lower inflation under President Trump. Inflation has cooled off since the pandemic down to 2.5% as of today. Still, prices remain high. “Here & Now” reporter Nathan Denzin has more on this.

Nathan Denzin:
If the 2020 election was defined by COVID-19, the 2024 election is defined by the economy.

J. Michael Collins:
The big issues that come up are housing, food, especially rent and child care.

Mike Semmann:
You’re seeing a pretty good increase in both grocery prices, but also prices as a whole.

Kent Miller:
Inflation is real. You know, we feel strongly some of that is corporate greed too.

Nathan Denzin:
Since 2020, the American economy has been hard to pin down.

J. Michael Collins:
The average worker today, I think, on an hourly basis is making about $6 more an hour than they were back before the pandemic.

Nathan Denzin:
J. Michael Collins is a professor at the UW La Follette School of Public Affairs studying consumer decision making.

J. Michael Collins:
The downside is inflation has also risen, so that extra $6, almost all of it has been eaten up by the cost of the stuff they have to pay for.

Nathan Denzin:
Cumulative inflation since 2021, when Joe Biden took office, has continued to climb. Meaning…

Mike Semmann:
In 2019 if a consumer was paying $100 for groceries, in 2024 they’re now paying about $125.

Nathan Denzin:
Mike Semmann is the president and CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association.

Mike Semmann:
So really there was a major economic shock to the system.

J. Michael Collins:
The other thing is that it has not been across the board inflation. It has been energy. Things like your electrical bill, things like gasoline and food.

Nathan Denzin:
Groceries are particularly responsive to rising energy costs.

Mike Semmann:
All those things that are at the front end of the supply chain are going to have a major impact, because grocery stores only have about a 1 to 2% profit margin.

Nathan Denzin:
Goods that are not purchased frequently, like a mattress, have much larger margins. That means that when energy costs rise, a mattress business can eat some of the extra expense and still make a profit. But with groceries, the margin is so slim that any rise in production and transportation costs will show up when you check out. Supply chains broke down in the early days of the pandemic, which caused prices to rise dramatically.

Mike Semmann:
If you’ve got a ten cents increase in a transportation cost on the front end of the supply chain, that’s multiplied across every different point, and by the time it reaches the end consumer, they’re going to be feeling it.

Nathan Denzin:
Those price increases have led many to wonder if America is in a recession. The latest Marquette University Law School poll found that nearly two thirds of Wisconsinites have a negative view of the economy.

J. Michael Collins:
In terms of how the economy is humming along, there’s really no sign that we’re in a recession right now.

Nathan Denzin:
A recession is broadly defined as multiple quarters of negative GDP growth. That threshold was briefly met in mid-2022, but since then the economy has grown each quarter. Other economic indicators, like unemployment and the stock market, also look positive. The S&P 500 has grown more than 45% since Biden took office, and unemployment continues to hover near record lows of just under 3% in Wisconsin. Wages in Wisconsin have increased roughly 25% across all jobs, enough to very narrowly beat inflation.

Kent Miller:
We have been able to secure some unprecedented collective bargaining agreements, right? 19% increases over three years.

Nathan Denzin:
Kent Miller is the president and business manager of the Wisconsin Laborers District Council, or LiUNA.

Kent Miller:
The bipartisan infrastructure bill in Wisconsin, that’s an extra billion dollars over five years in investing in roads and bridges and sewer and water infrastructure. We have the Inflation Reduction Act, where we’re seeing tons of private investment in utility-scale solar and wind development and battery storage.

Nathan Denzin:
Miller says LiUNA, which represents over 9,000 laborers in Wisconsin, has seen tremendous growth under the Biden administration.

Kent Miller:
I think that there’s an estimate on just the IRA component in Wisconsin of, like, almost 19,000 jobs.

J. Michael Collins:
Workers who are working on an hourly basis, whether that’s in manufacturing or construction or whatever it might be, are doing better than they were 4 or 5 years ago.

Kent Miller:
And that’s because of the Biden-Harris administration.

J. Michael Collins:
While they’re doing better, the question is, have they been able to swim faster than all these sort of other things that are pushing against them?

Nathan Denzin:
Groceries top that list but Semmann says grocery stores have started to see inflation cool off.

Mike Semmann:
We’re seeing both a stability in prices in certain types of produce, but we’re also seeing a real decrease in prices in produce, in the produce area.

Nathan Denzin:
Take wage increases in a growing stock market and combine it with high inflation and you get an economy that is…

J. Michael Collins:
… kind of weird.

Nathan Denzin:
Collins says it’s difficult to declare exactly how the economy is doing, especially since attitudes about it are so poor.

J. Michael Collins:
People are not just trying think about how to get through today. They’re trying to think about how are they going to fare six months from now, or, you know, they’re making plans for next year and whether that’s buying a house or going on vacation and like, are they going to be able to afford that.

Nathan Denzin:
When it comes to voters, their perception is reality. And until prices stabilize or drop across the board, negative attitudes about the economy will likely persist. For “Here & Now,” I’m Nathan Denzin in Madison.

Frederica Freyberg:
From the cost of things to wages and jobs, ahead of Labor Day we check in on the annual State of Working Wisconsin report with UW-Madison economist and associate director of its High Road Strategy Center, Laura Dresser. And thanks a lot for being here.

Laura Dresser:
I’m really glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
So in a nutshell, what is the overall state of working Wisconsin?

Laura Dresser:
You know, what we find this year, I think, is a continuation of the recovery from the pandemic shutdowns. We know we’ve been seeing high job production. That’s still true. 25,000 new jobs across the last year in the state of Wisconsin, highest ever number of jobs. We have low unemployment rates and we had a strong wage increase at the median last year.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what’s responsible for this growth in jobs as you describe?

Laura Dresser:
You know, the economy is ticking along well. I know there’s a lot of discussion about whether people think the economy is good, but from the perspective of workers, where a high demand in the labor market means that people can get into the labor market and it means that people when they hold jobs, they can ask more of those jobs. They have a little better position, bargaining position. That’s all true in this labor market. And it’s a continuation of what we’ve seen coming out of that, the severe lockdown, the shutdowns.

Frederica Freyberg:
And so that’s all great news but is there any sense that it is slowing down?

Laura Dresser:
You know, I think there’s, you know, obviously that last month’s national jobs data was softer than expected. There was a recent revision to the total national numbers on jobs. So the rate, the pace of job growth is slowing. We’re still adding jobs and the unemployment rates have been pretty steady and very low, like pretty steady below 3% in the state and or around 3%. That’s really low unemployment. And that and so that bargaining position for workers, like there are, there are clouds on the horizon. A lot of concern about what comes next. And I think that’s what everybody is looking at, future job production and that unemployment rate to change. But for now like very solid. We’ll take now.

Frederica Freyberg:
So again what does that do for wages? What are the kind of specifics on that?

Laura Dresser:
Yeah. So probably everybody remembers 2022 was a year of really high inflation. That means that wage increases in that year did not keep up with the cost of living. So we’d had steady wage growth. And then a step back in last year’s report. This year, we had the strongest one-year median wage growth that we’ve seen. And that’s all inflation adjusted. So the one — we — wages increased at the median by $0.97 an hour or almost a dollar an hour. That’s the strongest we’ve ever seen. It ties with 2019. But that’s really strong step forward in wages. And we’re very near the 2021 peak in wages. So strong wage growth because workers are bargaining for more. Employers are needing to pay more to find workers in these tight labor markets.

Frederica Freyberg:
It’s still amazing to me that our minimum wage sits at $7.25 an hour.

Laura Dresser:
Yeah, the state of Wisconsin is, you know, the labor market infrastructure, the kind of wage standards we set are being really left behind by neighboring states. It’s above $10 an hour in both Michigan and Minnesota. $13 an hour for the minimum in Illinois. Wisconsin is just out of touch in terms of setting the standard in our labor market for the base.

Frederica Freyberg:
You also describe in your report that there is a gender pay gap that persists.

Laura Dresser:
Yeah, it’s, you know, we’ve seen some shrinking in inequality. One of the exciting things about this recent period is lower wage workers have made bigger gains. And we know that even over the last 40 years, women have made gains relative to men. There’s still a substantial pay gap. And it’s especially extreme for Black women, for Hispanic women whose workers are — whose wages are 25 and 33% below white men’s wages.

Frederica Freyberg:
So your report also suggests that there are ways to make these gains durable, as you say. How in your mind do you do that?

Laura Dresser:
I think one that you already mentioned is, is the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage and trying to get the kind of floor under the labor market up more in touch with neighboring states, up more in touch with the cost of living, living would really matter for workers. I think restoring rights to collective, collective action, collective bargaining, restoring union rights in this state really matters for workers ability to, you know, pursue unions and to raise wages. And then I think the other thing we see in this state, we used to have a very strong relative advantage in women’s work. Women were much more likely to work in Wisconsin than in the rest of the nation. And that is shrinking, our relative advantage in women’s work. And so I think really attending to the question of our early care and education infrastructure, investing in that infrastructure, both so that the workers who are largely women who work in it, can earn decent wages and so that families who all rely on it, but especially moms who carry the burden of care, can really get accessible, affordable childcare.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Laura Dresser, thanks very much.

Laura Dresser:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSwisconsin.org and then click on the news tab. To see all of our election coverage, visit WisconsinVote.org. That’s our program for tonight. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a good weekend.

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Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.