Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway says the political “center of gravity” is moving toward Madison and Dane County, underscoring its critical importance for Democrats ahead of Election Day.
“Dane County is a very highly Democratic performing area of the state,” Rhodes-Conway said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “I think we will continue to see that. I think we’re getting even deeper blue than we have before, and as our population grows, that just changes the calculus a little bit about where you need to win.”
Rhodes-Conway spoke at Kamala Harris’ rally Friday in Madison, urging Democrats to mobilize and volunteer during the next six weeks.
“We know everything is going to be really close,” she said. “All of our elections are close in Wisconsin. But the margin, as you heard (state Dem Party Chair) Ben Wikler say, the margin of effort is here in Dane County. So we’ve got people knocking on doors all over town on a regular basis, and the energy that I’m feeling from the volunteers is fantastic. So I’m feeling really optimistic.”
Former Democratic congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is campaigning for Donald Trump in key swing states and says Wisconsin “is such an important state.”
“He’s not taking any state or any vote for granted,” Gabbard told “UpFront.” “I think you’re going to continue to see both President Trump and many others visiting Wisconsin to really talk about what’s at stake in this election and how the choice is not traditional in the sense of this is about Democrats versus Republicans.”
The Trump campaign recently appointed Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the Trump transition team ahead of a potential victory in November. Gabbard has said she would be open to serving in another Trump administration.
“President Trump and all of us are very focused on this election,” she said. “Obviously there is no transition if he does not win the election. So I’m sure there’s some administrative work that’s begun, but really what is going to need to happen is to bring together a fantastic team of Americans irrespective of political party who are committed to the Constitution and putting the interests of the American people first.”
Gabbard argued Trump needs to strictly focus on issues like the economy or immigration to ultimately win over undecided voters in Wisconsin. The latest Marquette University Law School poll showed about 12% of Independent voters were still undecided.
“President Trump is encouraging voters to look at the issues that are most important to all of us,” Gabbard said. “Because we have a rare opportunity to have two candidates running for president who actually have a record. You don’t just have to take their word for it. You can look at what they have actually done during their tenure in the White House.”
Local election officials from Republican and Democratic counties say they’re fully prepared for Election Day, including any potential threats targeting clerks.
The comments come as the first round of absentee ballots are arriving in mailboxes across the state.
“The fire department trained us on how to use Narcan,” Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez told “UpFront.” “We have Narcan in City Hall and also at our central, typically where central count occurs. Just getting staff prepped and having them remain vigilant is so critical. We have an area where we open mail now, so we’re doing what we can to prepare.”
A group of election officials from across the country recently warned of concerns surrounding the U.S. Postal Service and its ability to handle the influx of mail-in ballots that will be returned to local officials in the coming weeks.
“There are checks and balances in place,” said Washington County Clerk Ashely Reichert. “If an individual does choose to utilize the postal service to send their absentee ballot back in, they can track that actually right on the MyVote website. If an individual receives their absentee ballot by mail and does not want to mail it back to their municipal clerk, we in Washington County actually funded an initiative with our election integrity package that extends voting hours. And we actually have every single municipality participating. We have, however, throughout my campaign this summer and knocking on thousands of dollars and talking to our constituents have heard issues or concerns regarding drop boxes.”
Reichert said county leaders are sending a proposal to the county board to fund cameras at drop box sites after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled drop boxes legal ahead of November.
“Ours are under 24-hour surveillance,” Gutierrez said. “They are located in central parts of the city, at most of our libraries, so areas that are heavily monitored. … We train ballot courier teams that have a chain of custody, and if there are issues or concerns we can immediately access those cameras, and we’ve been having a lot of proactive conversations with our law enforcement partners to ensure that we are doing the best practices and giving them information and contacting them immediately if we need to.”
Officials say they are also preparing for an influx of poll watchers on Election Day.
“We love people to see democracy in action,” Gutierrez said. “In my experience, when you have observers from both parties, they tend to work well together. And we may not agree on everything, but the discourse has been professional and has been fruitful. I have some observers that have been coming for years to central count, and they actually sometimes give me some really good insight and suggestions. And we’ve implemented some of it as a result of them being there. And so we really appreciate having them. But the reality is, if they disrupt the process, they will be removed. We take that very seriously that everyone has the right to vote without disruption, and we will instill that and protect our voters.”
The Republican National Convention and Trump campaign have made it a cornerstone of their election efforts to recruit thousands of volunteers and poll watchers in Wisconsin.
“During our training we went over the process with observers and just being prepared for an influx come November, which is a positive,” Reichert said. “It’s a positive to have people involved and interested in democracy. And so whether they’re poll observers or election inspectors, poll workers, we want people involved. Education is powerful in restoring that faith in our processes regarding election practices.”
State Rep. Scott Krug, chair of the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee, says he’ll introduce legislation next session to make it easier for candidates to get off Wisconsin’s ballot.
The Nekoosa Republican made the comments to “UpFront” as the state Supreme Court weighs Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to be removed from the Wisconsin ballot.
“We can’t force people to do things they don’t want to do anymore, even if they wanted to do them earlier,” Krug said. “I think you saw in the court case they made a pretty strong First Amendment argument that it wasn’t what he wanted to do anymore, and we kind of forced him into it. So that would be the change, I would propose next session is just saying before that final meeting with WEC, let’s define what qualified means on the ballot.
“We definitely have to draft a piece of legislation,” Krug added. “And I think the court case also brought up the fact that it was a separate but equal problem when it comes to election law for party candidates and Independent candidates, so we might have to look at standardizing the process across the board for all candidates. Maybe it’s nomination paper time for everybody.”
Krug also said Wisconsin’s elections will be safe and secure ahead of Election Day.
“I think that’s been the challenge we’ve had the last four years is helping people understand why and how they are working so closely with our clerks, getting information out, having a lot of hearings, a session about ideas and changes we wanted to make,” Krug said. “Not a ton of changes got signed into state law, but I think everybody’s awareness of how our election process works and how their interactions with their clerks can be handled really gives me a lot of confidence going into this last stretch of the election cycle, that it’s safe and secure.”
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