MILWAUKEE — National GOP officials today touted the financial impact of the presidential debate tonight and the party’s 2024 national convention on the city, while Dems knocked the party’s contenders as out of touch with the average Wisconsinite.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said she expects Milwaukee to see a $200 million revenue boost from the debate and convention. GOP officials also praised Dem Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson for his help.
Indiana Republican National Committeewoman Anne Hathaway, who’s in charge of organizing the convention, at a vendor fair downtown praised city leaders and others for helping to make today’s events and the convention a success. She said she’s expecting a significant economic boost for Wisconsin as RNC members from across the country look to make next year a win.
“We opened the portal to look through Milwaukee and Wisconsin businesses in order to have partners as Reince described, for all of the delegates who will be here, the guests,” she said in reference to Reince Priebus, chair of the host committee. “We expect over 50,000 visitors who all need to have businesses to work with, whether it be caterers [or] balloons.”
Priebus, the former national and state GOP chair who also served as former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, said the vendor fair is meant to showcase what Milwaukee has to offer.
“The idea was that we wanted to feature all of the local businesses here so those states can plan their events,” said Priebus.
Johnson thanked RNC organizers and said he hopes the debate and convention will open the door for Milwaukee to be part of the conversation for future events.
“I don’t want Milwaukee to be in some city’s shadow,” he said. “We’re a city of our own. And this convention is helping us to stand up and say ‘Hey, we will be seen, we will be heard, we want more business, we want more things like this in Milwaukee in the future.’”
Outside the Fiserv Forum, where tonight’s debate will be held, camera crews crowded the streets in stifling heat hovering around 100 degrees. Some anti-GOP protesters were also walking around with signs calling to protect abortion access.
Dems at a press conference downtown shortly ahead of the GOP press event argued the Republican primary is a race to see who can be the biggest MAGA extremist. Trump is skipping the first GOP primary debate at Fiserv Forum, but eight others will participate.
State Dem Party Chair Ben Wikler argued Wisconsin is a state that could decide the next presidential election, adding candidates will be “leapfrogging each other to the most extreme fringes of ultra-MAGAism.
“Over and over Wisconsin voters reject MAGA extremism,” he added. “They reject attacks on fundamental freedoms and economic security and dignity. They reject the very kind of ultra-MAGA Republican candidates that will be swarming the debate stage here in Milwaukee tonight.”
He also noted statewide Dem candidates have won 15 of the last 18 elections.
Dems at the presser also blasted Republican abortion policies as losers, pointing to liberal Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s win earlier this year after she largely campaigned on the abortion issue.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway ripped GOP abortion restrictions put in place after federal protections fell, arguing the restrictions have taken freedom away.
“I’m sure that they’re going to talk about freedom on the debate stage tonight,” she said. “But what about the freedom to make my own health care decisions? I guess that their version of freedom doesn’t include women.”
And while Trump won’t be on the stage tonight, his supporters made sure to be seen around Milwaukee.
Lane Whitten, leading a group of younger Trump supporters adorned in MAGA apparel holding signs in support of the former president, told WisPolitics he’s interested to hear what Republican candidates, but added he’s in “Trump’s corner all the way.”
“He puts the values that young people American care about first,” the 21-year-old said. “He showed great economic promise during his tenure as president, and he makes great promises that he keeps during his campaign, and he wants to make America great.”
Both parties had paid messaging centered on the debate.
The Republican National Committee, for example, announced a video that will air tonight encouraging GOP voters to cast their ballots early as part of a “Bank Your Vote” campaign. The pitch includes a contest in which those who pledge to vote early can be entered into a drawing for tickets to a future GOP presidential debate.
The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, had mobile billboards, a plane and static billboards around the city carrying its message. That includes billboards featuring “Dark Brandon,” an image of Biden with red lasers coming out of his eyes — originally meant as a knock on the president but something that has been embraced by his supporters. One reads, “Get real, Jack. I’m bringing Roe back.”
Burgum may not participate due to injury, Trump out
Candidates slated to participate in tonight’s debate include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suffered a tear to his Achilles tendon yesterday while playing basketball, CNN reports, and he was still determining today whether he’ll be able to participate in the debate.
Trump is skipping the debate and instead sat for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that will be released tonight on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The debate airs at 8 p.m. Central time and is available on the Fox News website (sign-in required), the Fox News mobile app, and the Fox News and Fox Business television and streaming channels. The debate will not be simulcast on other networks, nor be streamed on YouTube or Facebook or other social media platforms. See details here.
– See a review of Milwaukee’s history of hosting major political debates here.
– Attend a roundtable review of the debate tomorrow hosted by WisPolitics, the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public leadership and UW-Milwaukee.
The discussion will feature former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Washington Bureau Chief Craig Gilbert, Marquette Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin, Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin State Director Megan Novak, state Sen. Julian Bradley and American Federation for Children Senior Strategist Scott Jensen.
The noon event takes place at the UW-Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health in Milwaukee.
Register here.
