Here & Now for September 6, 2024

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

Zac Schultz:
Students are back in school and Joe Biden is back in Wisconsin for the first time since he tapped out of the race against Donald Trump.
Good evening. I’m Zac Schultz filling in for Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” why did President Biden choose to visit a small city in western Wisconsin and to the 3rd Congressional District where Democrats and Republicans are spending big money. Students fill classrooms once again but what about teachers? We speak with a school board leader on persisting challenges for public schools. And finally, how Republicans are trying to rally support from Black and Latino voters and Democrats can’t take a single vote for granted. It’s “Here & Now” for September 6th.

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

Zac Schultz:
President Joe Biden visited western Wisconsin yesterday in his first visit to the state since dropping out of the presidential race more than a month ago. “Here & Now” reporter Aditi Debnath was there.

Aditi Debnath:
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 2300, welcomed President Joe Biden to the Vernon Electric Cooperative all the same.

Joe Biden:
Hello Wisconsin.

Aditi Debnath:
This marks Biden’s first trip to Wisconsin since dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the job.

Joe Biden:
Vice President Kamala Harris fought like hell for all of you and for the future worthy of your aspirations.

Aditi Debnath:
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.

Joe Biden:
And includes Dairyland Power Cooperative that will receive $580 million to develop and purchase solar power, wind power, energy storage right here in Wisconsin and all across the Midwest.

Aditi Debnath:
Just last week, former President Donald Trump held a town hall style event in La Crosse, just 30 miles from Westby. He used the opportunity to criticize the Biden administration and promote his own campaign.

Donald Trump:
I’m not a fan of his. He was the worst president.

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

Joe Biden:
He left office with the largest annual deficit in American history, $3 trillion.

Aditi Debnath:
The dueling visits from Biden and Trump highlight Wisconsin’s status as a key battleground state. Allison Prasch is an expert on presidential campaign strategies.

Allison Prasch:
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.

Aditi Debnath:
She says parallel campaign visits are an old strategy and sending Biden instead of Harris to a rural area was a smart choice.

Allison Prasch:
Biden can speak to that community in a way that the actual nominee cannot.

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

Monica Kruse:
This is becoming a tradition for me. I’ve come to see Joe Biden every time he’s been in town.

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

Robert Weeth:
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.

Aditi Debnath:
Do you think he made a good decision dropping out and endorsing Kamala Harris?

Monica Kruse:
I think he did. Yes, I was very concerned in the time leading up to that decision that we were really losing a lot of ground.

Aditi Debnath:
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. Reporting from Westby, I’m Aditi Debnath for “Here & Now.”

Zac Schultz:
President Biden’s visit to Westby comes as more eyes are drawn to western Wisconsin and its Congressional race. Republican Derrick Van Orden won the open seat in a tight race in 2022. But as Election Day gets closer and outside spending continues to grow, Nathan Denzin reports experts predict this year’s race will be even tighter.

Nathan Denzin:
Nobody is taking the 3rd Congressional District for granted in 2024.

Anthony Chergosky:
This is a very competitive district.

Rebecca Cooke:
The road to the White House runs through Wisconsin.

Derrick Van Orden:
Am I going to campaign for myself? Absolutely. Other local candidates? Absolutely.

Nathan Denzin:
The 3rd, which encompasses most of western and parts of central Wisconsin, is the most purple district in a purple state. Every vote is up for grabs. Republican Derrick Van Orden is the incumbent after winning the open seat in 2022. He declined multiple requests to be interviewed, both in person and virtually for this story, but spoke to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter at the RNC in July.

Derrick Van Orden:
If people look at my record and they understand how many hours we put in to craft very solid, very solid legislation to help out the 3rd, then they should be voting for me.

Nathan Denzin:
His supporters point to committee appointments, especially to the House Committee on Agriculture, as proof he’s working for residents in the 3rd.

Derrick Van Orden:
I’ve worked, I don’t know how many hundreds, if not thousands of hours getting through a bipartisan Farm Bill that is a remarkable piece of legislation that’s going to help everybody from our smallest farmers all the way to the larger farms.

Anthony Chergosky:
Derrick Van Orden is known as this very polarizing figure.

Nathan Denzin:
Anthony Chergosky is a political scientist at UW-La Crosse. He says the House hasn’t done much overall.

Anthony Chergosky:
Basically, Congress has just been trying to keep the lights on. I mean, that’s — they’ve been really accomplishing the bare minimum.

Nathan Denzin:
Since January 2023, Congress has passed just 43 bills.

Man at podium:
The bill is passed.

Nathan Denzin:
In the previous two sessions, they averaged about 200 bills passed.

Anthony Chergosky:
How much of this campaign is going to be about the legislative record of Derrick Van Orden? We just don’t know.

Nathan Denzin:
Since his inauguration, four bills with Van Orden as a sponsor or co-sponsor have been passed by the House. Three are related to the Armed Services, and one clarifies that federal funds can be used to buy archery or shooting sports equipment in schools. Committees Van Orden is a member of have also passed legislation. The largest is a 2024 Farm Bill that has drawn bipartisan praise but has still not yet been signed into law as legislators haggle over details.

Derrick Van Orden:
So when people say I’m not helping our our smaller farmers or farmers at all, that’s another lie and I just don’t appreciate it.

Nathan Denzin:
But if you ask a Democrat, Van Orden is a fringe MAGA politician.

Rebecca Cooke:
Derrick Van Orden is a lot of talk and no walk. You know, he’s continued to, I think, push radicalism and his temperament, I think it’s all about partisan, partisan game playing.

Nathan Denzin:
Rebecca Cooke is the Democratic nominee for the 3rd Congressional seat.

Rebecca Cooke:
I think he’s really proven time and time again by his outbursts, I mean, and it’s kind of like a laundry list at this point.

Nathan Denzin:
Outside of his legislative record, controversy has followed Van Orden since his first run in 2020. He attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6th, brought a loaded handgun through TSA, yelled at a teenage librarian over an LGBTQ+ book display, yelled at a group of teenage Senate pages in the U.S. Capitol for taking pictures, shouted over President Biden’s State of the Union address and got into a heated altercation with a protester outside of the RNC.

Rebecca Cooke:
People are just plain embarrassed, I think, by the actions that he takes.

Derrick Van Orden:
I would love them to actually look at my voting record and not listen to the noise that’s been put out.

Nathan Denzin:
Van Orden’s voting and sponsorship record shows he’s the most moderate member of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation.

Derrick Van Orden:
You guys don’t understand how many Democrat friends I have in Washington, D.C. The press won’t report it, but Dems aren’t convinced.

Rebecca Cooke:
I can promise you that when push comes to shove, a lot of the radical things that he’s talking about consistently on social media, consistently in the press, are going to be where he’s going.

Nathan Denzin:
Cooke says that if she were elected, things would be different.

Rebecca Cooke:
I think what really sets me apart are my lived experiences.

Nathan Denzin:
Experiences like growing up on a family farm in Eau Claire, running a small business, and waitressing three nights a week, even during the campaign.

Rebecca Cooke:
Those types of lived experiences, I think, lend themselves well to being a legislator that really understands what working people are looking for in their representative and what I can deliver on in Congress.

Nathan Denzin:
Cooke says she would like to serve on the House Ag Committee, as Van Orden does, and work on the Farm Bill to make sure it protects small family farms.

Rebecca Cooke:
One of the things that I’m really interested in is “right to repair.” So the right to repair your own stuff. I’d love to see something like that be incorporated into the Farm Bill in the future.

Nathan Denzin:
She also wants to expand access to health care in western Wisconsin, where the number of providers has shrunk since the pandemic.

Rebecca Cooke:
We’ve lost hospital systems. It’s not even health care providers, but we’ve lost, like literal hospitals for people to go to.

Nathan Denzin:
To do that, she says the federal government needs to look at tangible solutions.

Rebecca Cooke:
What Medicare reimbursement rates look like for hospitals in order to be staying open and serving critical populations.

Nathan Denzin:
Cooke says other priorities include codifying Roe v. Wade, taking on corporations who have been price gouging consumers, and securing federal funding for PFAS cleanup. At former President Trump’s rally in La Crosse, Van Orden said he also wants to talk about policy.

Derrick Van Orden:
Here in southwestern Wisconsin, honestly, we want to talk about policy. We want to talk about issues. We really don’t want to talk about personality.

Nathan Denzin:
But Van Orden’s website, where he lays out his top policy priorities, has not been updated since 2021. His positions include ending COVID-19 restrictions on schools, tax cuts and “leading with integrity.” Van Orden’s social media accounts are also light on policy, and PBS Wisconsin could not find a campaign platform or specific policy positions elsewhere. As to how all of this will play out, it’s anyone’s guess.

Anthony Chergosky:
Can Derrick Van Orden continue to emphasize his brand as a political outsider, even though he is now in Congress, and can Rebecca Cooke withstand millions of dollars of negative campaigning?

Nathan Denzin:
Political insiders believe Van Orden still has the inside track, but with money from state and national groups pouring into the race, nothing is certain.

Anthony Chergosky:
Derrick Van Orden is a favorite, but not overwhelmingly so. And a lot can happen between now and November to either solidify Van Orden’s advantage or to undermine his advantage.

Nathan Denzin:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Nathan Denzin in La Crosse.

Zac Schultz:
Turning to education, another national figure was out campaigning in Wisconsin and other swing states this week as students stepped back into classrooms. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona kicked off a back-to-school bus tour by stopping in Green Bay, Oneida, Milwaukee and Mazomanie, promoting investments in public education. At a stop in the Wisconsin Heights School District, Secretary Cardona chided private school voucher programs for siphoning money away from public schools. And he highlighted a program that mentors rural high school students who want to become teachers.

Miguel Cardona:
We know rural communities often are overlooked, and one of the things that we’re trying to do is combat that. We want to make sure that we’re recognizing that in rural communities there are unique challenges. So recruiting and retaining educators is an area that I wanted to learn more about and how they’re solving it. The GROW program that they have here where they put money together, districts come together to provide scholarships for high school students that want to become teachers so that they can come back into the community. That’s brilliant. So we sent a team here to really highlight it. I wanted to hear from educators and superintendents directly today. I did and that’s a perfect example of, you know, I don’t think for a second that in D.C. we have the answers. The answers lie here. So when I come to Wisconsin Heights and I listen, I find solutions to challenges that are being felt in other parts of the country. And then I say, “Hey, go talk to them over there in Wisconsin because they get it.” Public education is a great equalizer. I wouldn’t be standing as Secretary of Education if it weren’t for what the public schools offered me in my hometown. And they’re under attack in many places. Oftentimes, you know, public education dollars are being used to fund private schools and tuitions and vouchers for schools that take away from already cash strapped public schools. We have to do better. So what better way than to show up in schools and see the great things that are happening in your neighborhood public schools. And I love choice. I went — I had choice. When I was in high school, I didn’t go to my traditional high school. I chose to go to a technical school. So I’m a big fan of choice. What I’m not a fan of is taking public education dollars, which is already thin, and then paying private tuitions for that, in private schools that don’t accept all students or don’t have accountability measures. That’s unacceptable to me.

Zac Schultz:
How are schools doing as we start the new year? For answers to that, we check in with Dan Rossmiller, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and thanks for joining us today.

Dan Rossmiller:
Thanks for inviting me.

Zac Schultz:
So in recent years, coming out of the pandemic, we’ve seen a number of school districts struggle with staffing, both in terms of classroom teachers and support staff like bus drivers. How are things looking this fall?

Dan Rossmiller:
Well, I think things are looking a little better than they have in the past. It’s very challenging. I would say that the two things that really impact staffing are the inflation that we’ve experienced in the marketplace. And I drive around the state visiting with my members and going to regional meetings in the fall. And I remember last fall seeing all the signs in front of Kwik Trip and Culvers, you know, starting at $17, $18, $19 an hour. And that made it difficult for schools to compete for many of those positions. But I seem — I’m not hearing as much concern about those positions this year as I have in the past. Not saying that we’re out of the woods, but things seem to be a little better.

Zac Schultz:
We’ve seen a record number of districts go to referenda asking voters to raise their own property taxes, especially for funding operational referenda, not just building new buildings. How dire is the situation in these districts where the voters say no?

Dan Rossmiller:
Well, it can be very dire. Over the years, we’ve had revenue limits in place now for 31, 32 years. And that’s two generations of kids that have gone through school. And over time, many districts have become increasingly dependent, probably 100 districts or more in the state rely on referendum funding for 10% or more of their budget. And if those referendums don’t pass, imagine cutting 10% out of your household budget or the budget of a business that you work with. It’s significant. It creates a whole set of problems for those districts and the students that are educated in them.

Zac Schultz:
In a new environment, we’re also seeing more EMS and cities themselves go to referendum because they feel they need additional funds. So how does that work when a school district is competing with ambulance services to get voters to say yes?

Dan Rossmiller:
Well, we’ll see. Last fall, Fort Atkinson competed their school district with their municipality, and the municipality succeeded, the school district did not. So it’s a challenge. We’re going to see that here in Madison. We’re going to see that in a number of communities. It’s part of then — an interplay. The legislature is trying to hold down property taxes while providing sufficient funding. And I think it’s an indication that the attempt to clamp down on property taxes is creating some problems.

Zac Schultz:
This is a long-standing pathway that got us here in terms of eight years of Scott Walker and the Republican legislature holding down school funding, local funding in favor of property tax relief, plus the fiscal cliff created by the ESSER funds and the COVID pandemic money. Do you think that the public understands how we got here, or are they just wondering, “Well, how did this local school district mismanage their budget to be this far in the hole?”

Dan Rossmiller:
I think that is a question. And it’s a, it’s a complicated one so bear with me for a moment. Since the Great Recession in 2008-09 and the changes that Governor Walker made and the legislature made since then, for the first number of years that revenue limits were in place for schools, the legislature made annual adjustments that tried to keep pace with inflation, and they were pretty successful for the most part. Districts were able to keep pace with inflation, maybe even do a little better. Since 2012, the allowable increases, the increases in resources for schools that the legislature has allowed have been roughly half of the rate of inflation. Chances are, in a few years, if inflation continues, you are going to be back asking the voters — if inflation continues and your declining enrollment continues, you almost certainly will be back asking the voters. We’ve had some districts go to the voters ten times or more. And part of the reason for that is that it’s easier for districts to pass a temporary exception to the revenue limit than it is for them to pass a permanent one. So those temporary exceptions last for two, three, four years. At the end of that time, those districts find themselves having to come back to the voters or having to make significant cuts in programs and services. So that, in a nutshell, that explains why districts are having to go back to the voters. It’s because the resources provided to them, allowed to them by state law, are not keeping pace with inflation.

Zac Schultz:
Moving to a slightly different topic, we’re in the middle of a very contentious election season. What is your advice to how teachers and administrators should handle politics in the classroom, whether brought up by students or the teachers or parents or anyone else?

Dan Rossmiller:
Well, that’s a matter of some delicacy, and I think it’s going to vary from district to district. I think those are important discussions that can happen, particularly in our social studies and other classrooms, about how our democracy functions. I think it’s a, it’s a balancing act for teachers not to be telling students how they ought to vote, but educating them about the process, educating them about the issues, what the candidates differing views are. I think there’s a place for that in our democracy. But if you get too much on an advocacy side, one way or the other, I think that is likely to cause problems in the community.

Zac Schultz:
The legislature has signed off on an audit of the Department of Public Instruction and how it monitors public school finances, especially in light of the Milwaukee Public Schools, you know, budget issues recently. What do you hope to learn from that audit?

Dan Rossmiller:
Well, I hope that we’ll be able to learn how we can better help school boards and school districts that have audits that that show some red flags. Every school district is required to have a financial audit report filed with the DPI. It’s understandable when you have 421 districts and 421 audits being filed. And I think, you know, school finance is very complicated. You mentioned the influx of the federal dollars. There were differing standards and uses for those monies, according to which of the three tranches of money the school was dealing with. So the accounting for that was complicated. And it’s not surprising that some districts, perhaps struggled with that a little bit.

Zac Schultz:
All right. We’ll leave it there. Dan Rossmiller from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, thanks for your time.

Dan Rossmiller:
Thank you for having me.

Zac Schultz:
Black and Latino voters will play a key role in who wins the White House. A recent report by PBS NewsHour shows Donald Trump is gaining the support of more Black men this election cycle. Murv Seymour has more on efforts to win over Black and Latino voters in Wisconsin.

Scott Walker:
We can’t survive four more years of Joe Biden. We need President Donald Trump.

Murv Seymour:
Welcome to the last outdoor rally Donald Trump held in Wisconsin.

Donald Trump:
I just want to begin by saying hello, Wisconsin. Hello. Great state. I’ve had great — we’ve had great success here. What a crowd. What a crowd.

Murv Seymour:
And Trump’s message is a crowd pleaser here.

Donald Trump:
After we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.

Murv Seymour:
With only a few Black and Latino voters in attendance…

Donald Trump:
Because if you look at the Hispanic population.

Murv Seymour:
…the former president talks directly to this minority group of voters who overwhelmingly and traditionally tend to vote for Democrats. Trump is trying to buck the trend with voters of color. But is it working?

Donald Trump:
If you look at the Black population, they’re voting for Trump. They’re voting for Trump. You, you, look at you. You. Thank you. I like that person right there.

Murv Seymour:
Hilario Deleon is the first Latino chairman of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, and he’s the youngest. He passionately works the crowd at rallies like this to ignite enthusiasm for Donald Trump, who he believes offers a lot to Black and Latino voters, especially when it comes to jobs and the economy.

Hilario Deleon:
They feel like they’re being left behind by the Democrat Party. They feel like the party is gone way too far to the left, and they want to just kind of return back to the middle. They may not like his personality, but if there’s one thing that they do say is that he brought us jobs and he put money in our pockets and we were able to, you know, have, you know, better life under him than under the previous administration.

Murv Seymour:
Antonio Servantez lives a few blocks away. He tells me he’s brought his young son to teach and expose him to politics so he can one day vote with his conscience.

Antonio Servantez:
I never paid attention to politics. I didn’t understand. I said, well, whatever they do is fine with me. But when you have children and a family, you understand that, wait a minute now, I can’t afford paying all this for the gas when it was low. For the food and the eggs when it was low and now it’s high. Why is it high?

Murv Seymour:
Sporting his “Donald Trump wanted for president” shirt, Phillip Brookshire is a walking billboard for the Trump campaign. He says he’s been supporting Republican candidates since the days of Ronald Reagan. If he could have things his way…

Phillip Brookshire:
I wish more Black people would pay attention to their own hearts and stuff. And don’t go by the media and don’t go listening because of what their grandfathers and grandmothers said. Vote Democrat. Don’t do that. Vote for somebody that that has ideas that are really out here to do something to help you.

Murv Seymour:
To connect with more voters in Wisconsin, the Republican and Democratic Parties both have set up offices in Milwaukee’s inner city, targeting Blacks and Latinos.

Sarita Campbell:
Gracias por darnos vida, salud y fuerza. (Thank you for giving us life, health and strength.)

Murv Seymour:
Welcome to Milwaukee’s south side.

Jose Perez:
Sin su voto, no tienen voz. (Without your votes, you have no voice.)

Murv Seymour:
Without your votes, you have no voice, he says.

Marcelia Nicholson:
We have a chance to shape the direction of our nation.

Murv Seymour:
Surrounded by symbols of faith and Latin culture…

Key Jennings:
Imagine being able to just talk to three people a week. Maybe change one person’s mind a week. You could literally be the difference.

Murv Seymour:
…surrogates of the Harris-Walz campaign have come to Iglesia del Dios Vivo Church to speak directly to Latino and Black voters in this blended neighborhood.

Patricia Ruiz-Cantu:
Vamos a tener una persona que no quiere a los Latinos, que quiere diviciones.

Murv Seymour:
Tonight’s message is in English…

Key Jennings:
The chance to actually do something is right now. We don’t want to wait until November 6th.

Murv Seymour:
….and Espanol.

Jose Perez:
Let’s get out here. Let’s get the vote. Gracias and God bless you. Thank you.

Murv Seymour:
If the election is close, voters in this room could be some of those who decide who wins.

Steven Tipton:
I absolutely believe that it’s going to come down to the Black and the Latino vote. Coming together and talking together is an excellent way to improve our chances of the Black and Latino vote doing it for Harris and Walz.

Priscilla Perez:
As a Latino person, I would say it’s important to vote for the candidate that is going to, you know, be open to diversity and to community and people of various cultures.

Kamala Harris:
Good evening, Milwaukee.

Murv Seymour:
During the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris brought her message of a proposed tax cut for the middle class and $25,000 in down payment assistance for first time homeowners to the Fiserv Forum arena in downtown Milwaukee. While she doesn’t say it, it’s a message meant to speak directly to middle class Black and Latino voters.

Kamala Harris:
The high cost of housing, understanding so many people are trying to fulfill the American dream, and we need to give people help to get there.

Murv Seymour:
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson resists the assumption that Black and Latino voters will automatically support the Democrats. But he says he hasn’t met any Black voters in Milwaukee who support Donald Trump.

Cavalier Johnson:
That’s why the vice president today is leaving her own convention, the DNC in Chicago, coming to Milwaukee, coming to the most diverse community in the entire state of Wisconsin and saying, hey, we see you. We value you. And I want to earn your vote.

Donald Trump:
People go there from Wisconsin.

Kamala Harris:
Remember the traditions of our great country.

Murv Seymour:
For both campaigns, the battle for Black and Latino voters in Wisconsin is hardly over. Some wonder just how many more times will we see this team of candidates here in this crucial swing state to win over this key demographic of voters? Reporting for “Here & Now,” I’m Murv Seymour.

Zac Schultz:
For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSWisconsin.org and click on the news tab. To see all of our election coverage, visit WisconsinVote.org. That is our program for tonight. I’m Zac Schultz. Have a great weekend.

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