Racine, Wisconsin KeynoteUSA—
Days after he reportedly called Milwaukee “horrible” behind closed doors, former President Donald Trump will rally with supporters just south of the city in one of the nation’s most battleground states.
Trump’s event Tuesday comes less than a month before Republicans gather in Milwaukee for their national convention, where they will nominate the former president for the third time in eight years. At a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill last week, Trump referred to the convention host city chosen by his party as “horrible,” according to a source in the room.
Trump’s campaign rejected part of the public characterization of the alleged comment, saying it referred to crime and “election fraud.” As his alleged comment resonated throughout the Badger State, Trump clarified to a KeynoteUSA reporter: “I love Milwaukee. I have great friends in Milwaukee” before also criticizing crime there and the city’s administration of elections.
Milwaukee – in addition to Madison, the state capital – is a Democratic power center in Wisconsin and home to more voters than any other city in the state. One in five of the votes for Joe Biden en route to his narrow victory in Wisconsin in 2020 were cast in Milwaukee.
The city’s Democratic mayor, Cavalier Johnson, told KeynoteUSA’s Laura Coates last week that Trump’s alleged comment could turn out to be a tactical error.
“In a state that is decided on a knife’s edge, that could ultimately cost Donald Trump the election,” Johnson said.
Democrats have tried to use the incident to rally support for Biden in the state’s largest city.
The Democratic National Committee said Friday it had placed 10 billboards across Milwaukee featuring Trump’s alleged comment. Biden’s campaign has begun selling T-shirts and stickers featuring Milwaukee over an outline of Wisconsin and the words: “(Not) a Horrible City.”
“I happen to love Milwaukee,” Biden posted on social media Thursday, along with a photo with the Milwaukee Bucks after the team’s 2021 NBA championship victory.
Trump made crime in major cities a central pillar of his successful 2016 White House bid, and Milwaukee was an example of his “law and order” campaign against urban violence.
During an appearance outside the city that year, Trump told a suburban crowd: “The violence, riots and destruction that have taken place in Milwaukee are an assault on the right of all citizens to live in security and peace.” .
Trump didn’t come close to winning in Milwaukee, but he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in surrounding suburban counties that have become influential in deciding state elections in Wisconsin. That success helped him become the first Republican presidential candidate to win Wisconsin since 1988.
Both Biden and Trump campaigned aggressively to win the votes of Wisconsinites during the 2020 election, which ended with Biden winning the state by less than half a point.
This year, Trump has once again made crime a central focus of his campaign. In announcing the trip to Racine, Trump’s team blamed Biden’s policies for the “increase in crime across Wisconsin” and claimed that Milwaukee was “experiencing the largest increase in shootings in the country.”
But a recent New York Times/Siena College poll in Wisconsin found that less than 1% of registered voters said crime was a top concern as they weighed their presidential options. Meanwhile, violent crime is down this year and homicide rates are falling across the country, the FBI said earlier this month.
Trump’s appearance in Racine marks his second in southeastern Wisconsin in less than two months, underscoring the region’s importance in the coming battle. Two of Biden’s four trips to Wisconsin this year also placed him in the same corner of the Badger State.
One of them included an official White House visit to Racine, just 20 minutes from where Trump will hold his rally on Tuesday. On that visit, Biden spoke at a site where his predecessor once promoted an investment by Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn that later failed.
“Foxconn turned out to be just that: a scam,” Biden said. “Go figure.”
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.