(WISCONSIN) — Vice President Mike Pence visited the Badger State last week to try to salvage the flailing Trump Campaign. After three and a half years of policies that attacked farmers and manufacturers, Wisconsinites’ health care, and undermined policies that protect working people, followed by a complete failure to address COVID-19, there is little that Trump can do to save face in a state that he has consistently forgotten.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pence argues against socialism in Ripon, Wisconsin, which was central to the founding of the Republican Party

  • In a visit Friday to a city central to the founding of the Republican Party, Vice President Mike Pence argued Democrats were turning the country toward socialism, touted a border wall and praised police officers.
  • Attendance at Pence’s speech was limited to 50 people because of the coronavirus pandemic. Attendees had their temperatures checked as they entered the event, wore face masks and sat in chairs that were 6 feet apart from one another.
  • The setup contrasted with the one at the party’s state convention, where few wore masks and many spent time close together.
  • Pence’s visit came just after the United States reported a record 75,600 coronavirus cases Thursday. Nine hundred of them were in Wisconsin.
  • Pence touched briefly on the pandemic, contending Trump had dealt with the illness aggressively and was committed to reopening the country.
  • “We are meeting this moment with American compassion and American resolve,” he said.
  • Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield called Pence’s stop an act of “damage control” in a battleground state.
  • “As VP Pence attempts to gloss over the Trump administration’s bungled response to the pandemic, the choice for Wisconsin voters could not be more clear,” Bedingfield said in a statement. “Instead of propping up the wealthy and powerful, Joe Biden will ensure we reopen safely, get relief to those in need, and help us Build Back Better by creating millions of good-paying jobs and supporting working families across the Badger State.”
  • Pence’s stop is a reminder Wisconsin remains a top target in the presidential race. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to claim it since Ronald Reagan won reelection in 1984.
  • Trump has struggled in recent polls. Biden led Trump 49% to 41% of registered Wisconsin voters in a June survey by Marquette University Law School.

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