MILWAUKEE — The GOP hopes that the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee will help turn out voters in Wisconsin, a key swing state that has only voted for the GOP presidential candidate once since 1984 — and that was for Trump in 2016.
“The road to the White House runs straight through Milwaukee County,” said Hilario DeLeon, the Milwaukee County GOP chair. “Having the Republican National Convention here in one of the single most important battleground states in the entire nation was a very intelligent decision.”
But even as Trump’s support appears to have surged in the wake of the Pennsylvania assassination attempt and the convention studded with Republican stars, some prominent Wisconsin Republican leaders remain staunchly opposed and say the state is up for grabs.
Mark Graul, the former state director of Wisconsin for George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign, said many conservative voters don’t favor Trump, especially in the once-solidly Republican suburbs where support for the GOP has waned in general.
In 2020, Trump received 60% of the vote in Waukesha County and 55% in Ozaukee County. That’s the lowest support for a Republican presidential candidate since 1996 and 1992, respectively.
“If I were running the Trump campaign, I would work my tail off to make sure those suburban voters have a reason to vote for me,” Graul said.
Despite low numbers in some areas, there is still plenty of support for Trump across the state. The Trump-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Tony Wied frequently posts on social media such as X, looping in the former president and the support of Wisconsinites.
“Let’s turn WISCONSIN RED — vote for the Trump-Endorsed Conservatives on AUGUST 13th,” Wied posted on X, on July 11, with a photo of political signs supporting Trump, Wisconsin’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde and himself.
Trump’s June 18 rally in Racine, attracted over a thousand supporters in the southeast Wisconsin city. The rally included Hovde taking the stage with Trump.
Brandon Maly, the 24-year-old chair of the Republican Party of Dane County, hopes Trump will visit the county to drum up votes.
“I would encourage him to have a rally in Dane County; talk to some business leaders,” Maly said. “In the bedroom communities of Dane County, he should talk to manufacturers up in Waunakee, he should go to DeForest. If he doesn’t, I think that would be a huge mistake.”
DeLeon said the goal is “losing by less” in heavily blue Milwaukee County, which saw Trump get a smaller proportion of Milwaukee votes than any GOP candidate in recent history. Trump won less than 30% of the Milwaukee County vote in both 2016 and 2020, lower than any Republican candidate since 1936, according to Dave Leip’s Atlas U.S. Presidential Elections.
“How do you lose by less? You increase your voter percentage,” said DeLeon. “That means we have to be present in the community at all times. Anytime there’s a community event going on. If there’s a shooting, we should be speaking out against it. We are the opposition party. It’s time that we start acting like it.”
To some longtime Wisconsin GOP supporters, the party appears different from what they once knew.
“They’ve shifted so many of their principles that they’re almost unrecognizable from even a decade ago,” said former U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, who publicly opposed Trump in 2016. “They’ve gone all populist, and they’ve got as much in common with Bernie Sanders as they do with a traditional conservative.”
Charlie Sykes, a Wisconsin former conservative talk radio host, described the GOP as becoming a “wholly-owned subsidiary of Trump’s ego.”
“It’s so disillusioning and soul-crushing to watch people that I’ve known for 20 years or more decide that they are going to become apologists for Trump and his character,” Sykes said. “It’s heartbreaking to watch how people will contort themselves to be part of this cult of personality.”
After the 2020 election and Trump’s efforts to overturn it, Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos faced pressure from Trump supporters to overturn the 2020 results and impeach the election official who oversaw Trump’s loss in Wisconsin. After Vos refused, multiple attempts have been made to force his recall.
“[What] gets former President Trump and his supporters in trouble is when they start focusing on this incredible-waste-of-time recall of Vos,” Graul said. “They’re focusing on an election four years ago. Let’s focus on the election that’s four months from now.”
Despite the hoopla around the Republican National Convention, Sykes doesn’t expect the RNC will inspire many voters.
“It seems like it might be an underwhelming event,” said Sykes. Nonetheless, he thinks Republicans will largely turn out for Trump in the end.
“There are so many others who agree absolutely with what you’re saying but will never speak up. There are a lot of Republicans that are just flat-out exhausted by it. But in the end, they sort of do that deep sigh and say, ‘Yeah, I guess I’ve got to vote for him again.'”