The Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns have logged more than 40 visits to Wisconsin

You’ve seen the commercials. You saw the signs in the yard.

And this year, tens of thousands of you saw the candidates.

Wisconsin is no stranger to the spotlight during a presidential election year. But over the past four months, the battleground state has seen an intensity from Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump unmatched in recent election cycles.

In fact, the two presidential nominees and their fellow executives did more than 40 individual stops in Wisconsin since mid-July—contributing to a supercharged political atmosphere that brought out the swing state’s status in full.

“It’s kind of mind-blowing,” said Lynn Franke, a 71-year-old resident of West Allis, where Harris began his presidential campaign on July 23 and delivered his closing message to the state on Friday.

“What’s going on here, I’m very, very surprised,” Franke said, describing the two Democratic rallies he attended — one with Harris and the other with former President Barack Obama — as packed “bumper-to-bumper” in which those in general, admission were left to fend for themselves. “I think we’ll be fine.”

In Wisconsin, dozens of voters on both sides of the aisle expressed similar sentiments. Many said they saw more people putting up campaign signs on their lawns. Rallies outside pointed to snaking lines of thousands of people as evidence of broad support for their candidate. And several joked that they were ready for political ads to disappear.

But on the ground, the Harris and Trump campaigns have reached nearly every corner of Wisconsin in recent months. They bounced all over the place, from La Crosse to Superior to Green Bay to Milwaukee, often making multiple visits a week to win what could turn out to be the tipping point in an election that only really began when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. this summer.

Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have made 18 separate visits to the state since accepting their party’s nominations at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in mid-July.

Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, meanwhile, have made 25 separate stops in the state since Harris effectively became the new Democratic nominee on July 23.

And that’s without taking into account the surrogates of the campaigns.

Nothing illustrated the focus on Wisconsin better than last Friday night, when both Harris and Trump arrived in the Milwaukee area at nearly the same time and just six miles apart. closing rallies dueling.

“Never in my life,” state Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said when asked if he had seen similar campaign activity in Wisconsin in recent cycles. “I think this is the first time we’ve seen the kind of intensity when you have multiple candidates coming in.”

Each visit by a presidential candidate has brought thousands of supporters to various fields and arenas in Wisconsin, one of the few battleground states that could decide the election.

At Trump rallies, the image of Trump with his fist in the air following the July 13 assassination attempt was ubiquitous on T-shirts and flags. Some wore wigs to imitate their party leader. More recently, they donned orange and green garbage bags and safety vests to attract attention recent comments from the current president.

Harris rallies sometimes looked more like concerts, as top music stars took the stage with Harris in an attempt to galvanize Democrats as the vice president made his closing argument to voters. Top surrogates like Obama spread across the state to encourage turnout in a race where every vote counts. The Harris campaign also had Republican supporters in tow. Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheneya top Trump critic, appeared with Harris in Wisconsin twice.

Whether it was a Trump or Harris event, the bass from the arena speakers during the pre-speech music sometimes felt like it could shake your bones.

In Ashwaubenon last week, Chris Misovec sat in her lawn chair on a sidewalk outside Lambeau Field and watched as a crowd dotted with red MAGA hats, soon to swell to more than 10,000, filed into the Resch Center .

Misovec, a 69-year-old Green Bay resident, was not attending the rally. She had to make dinner for her husband’s birthday that evening, but she wanted to take advantage of the last few days of the race.

“It softens him. I like it. I love the excitement,” Misovec told the Journal Sentinel, saying she watches every Trump rally on her phone. “I wish there was more singing, but I’m sure that will happen inside.”

Another attendee, Don Treichel, 74, of Appleton, said he expected the election to be closer than in 2020, when Biden beat Trump by just over 20,000 votes. He cited the size of the crowd as something that gave him confidence in Trump’s chances in the state, but said he didn’t believe the polls and complained about the constant TV ads.

Polls show tight race in Wisconsin. A Marquette University Law School poll released last week found that Harris has a margin of 1 point Trump among likely voters. Both parties spent more than $150 million combined on advertising in the state, according to AdImpact — about $84 million for Democrats and $73 million for Republicans.

“I mean you turn on the TV, it’s all you see,” Treichel said of the ads. “It just goes on and on. It’s old. I’ll be glad when he’s here next Tuesday.”

At recent Democratic rallies, voters have highlighted what they say are the high stakes of the election. Several told the Journal Sentinel they saw the energy the party rode after Harris assumed the top spot on the ticket continue into Tuesday.

“This is totally unlike anything I’ve seen before,” said Angela Schwenn, 58, of Milwaukee, as she waited for Obama to speak at the Baird Center on Sunday. “People are so emotional after the vote. It almost brings you to tears.”

Democrats have been innovative in their own efforts to engage voters.

Two Harris rallies in the past two weeks have featured top music artists such as Gracie Abrams, Mumford & Sons, Cardi B and GloRilla, turning political events into parties.

In Milwaukee, the campaign also turned to basketball to encourage turnout, sending Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers to help black voters. Late last month, Democrats promoted a no-vote basketball contest hosted by former NBA player Kendrick Perkins.

“It’s a lot different than when I was in college,” Rivers, who attended Marquette University, said when asked about the political climate in Milwaukee during the election season. “He’s alive now. You can feel the energy in the Black community. You can feel the energy throughout the community.”

“I think Wisconsin knows they have a say in the election,” Rivers added after an event at a basketball court in a park on Milwaukee’s north side. “And that makes people stronger. They think they are stronger.”

The Harris campaign also enlisted local content creators to spread its message.

Brandon Jones, a Milwaukee comic, told the Journal Sentinel that he started creating content for the Biden campaign in 2020. This cycle, he said, the Harris campaign has been more creative.

“I’m not going to lie, this year, they’ve really stepped it up as far as putting on events and stuff,” Jones said during a get-out-the-vote event with First Sen. Doug Emhoff and Rivers. “This will help.”

“This is a great event,” he added. “Obama (in Madison) was a great event. This, with the Bucks, partnering with the Bucks – we need more events like this to get people out.”

The time the candidates have spent on the ground in Wisconsin, however, stands in stark contrast to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Clinton largely ignored Wisconsin and went on to lose the state and the election.

Part of the reason for the focus, retired Republican strategist Brandon Scholz suggested, is the 24/7 news cycle that allows candidates to get in front of voters even when “defining moments” like the debates are few and far between.

“It’s a changed dynamic because you have to be in that news cycle,” Scholz said. “And the only way you’re going to be in that news cycle is to be in a place, do a place or say something. If not, then on the other hand, they get the title, they get the cycle, they get the story.”

“Every media outlet out there will cover an event,” Scholz added. “And if you don’t have one, the other side has time.”

Beneath this year’s presidential frenzy were down-ballot races for the Senate, the House and the balance of the state Legislature.

Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin and her Republican opponent Eric Hovde – stuck in their own bitter race, neck and neck — frequently appeared alongside Harris and Trump, respectively, at presidential campaign rallies across the state. And rally-goers were likely to hear a few words from their local congressman or congressional candidate, depending on where party leaders stopped in Wisconsin.

But the presidential race and four months of near-constant visits remained front and center for voters.

“If there’s ever going to be a high in Wisconsin, it’s 2024,” said Scholz, a retired Republican strategist. “In years to come, in the next presidential election, that’s what people will look back on and say, ‘2024, we had 40 visits by presidential candidates and this and this and this and this.’

“So four years from now, this is the standard in Wisconsin?”

Before Obama delivered his closing remarks Sunday in Milwaukee, Davis Williams pulled out his phone and Facetimed his parents to show them the scene.

Williams, 22 and from Louisville, Kentucky, was in Milwaukee for just two months for an internship. He told the Journal Sentinel that he had never seen an activity or rally like this in his life. Nor, for that matter, did his parents.

“People are very mobilized,” he said of Wisconsin. “It’s different. It’s completely different.”

“It was a really cool experience.”