Politics
Trump may be gambling with his rural support in Wisconsin
Rural swaths of the country that helped power Donald Trump to victory are facing serious economic headwinds inflicted by his administration. The results of Wisconsin’s high-stakes Supreme Court race on Tuesday will reveal just how damaging they’re becoming for the president and the GOP.
Conservative-backed candidate Brad Schimel needs strong support in the same rural areas the president dominated in 2024 to land on the court. But many voters here are facing the effects of White House policies that threaten their bottom lines, like retaliatory tariffs on agricultural goods or the Agriculture Department’s funding freeze.
The GOP in Wisconsin is campaigning heavily in those communities, deploying an aggressive ground game in the turnout contest boosted by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
“If [Schimel] doesn’t have the kind of support that President Trump had in rural Wisconsin, ball game over,” said Brian Reisinger, a former GOP adviser in Wisconsin who specializes in rural policy. “The strength of the rural vote, and whether it is going to be there for the conservative candidate in the Supreme Court race like it was for conservative candidates in 2024, is going to be the biggest, most determinative factor in this race.”
And, Reisinger added, it’s “the biggest signal that we’re going to get headed in the midterms.”
The White House is paying attention to this key swing-state, off year election that will determine the partisan bent of the court. Trump personally appeared at a tele-town hall on Thursday to boost Schimel, and Musk has invested heavily and plans to stump there himself at a rally for Schimel on Sunday.
“What we’re seeing here is kind of a replay of the last election cycle involving Trump,” said Republican strategist Craig Peterson. “Trump is on the ballot here, so is Elon Musk.”
Wisconsin’s agricultural sector — an important driver of the rural economy – is bearing the brunt of the tumult in Washington. Farmers are in the crosshairs of retaliatory tariffs from Canada, which is targeting $5.8 billion of U.S. agricultural products like wine, fruit, dairy, meat and rice. Canada is also a major source of fertilizer material imports to the U.S.
“The biggest thing that I hear is the true uncertainty that we’re in,” said Darin Von Rude, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, whose PAC endorsed Schimel over Democratic-backed Susan Crawford in the race. “Not knowing what tomorrow is going to look like, (or) what’s going to come out of the White House or the USDA.”
According to the latest Marquette Law School poll, conducted in late February, a majority of registered voters in Wisconsin’s rural regions think tariffs hurt, not help, the economy.
While Trump’s favorability rating is 9 percentage points net positive in those areas, Musk, his government-slashing adviser, is “pretty unpopular,” said Charles Franklin, the director of the poll. In some areas of northern and western Wisconsin, Musk’s favorability is 17 percentage points underwater.
The stakes of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race aren’t exactly abstract for farmers. The election could have a significant impact on their ability to access clean water. One case under consideration by the state’s Supreme Court could curtail the Department of Natural Resources’ authority to enforce its spills law, which some farmers fear would lead to more contaminated water.
And it isn’t just in Wisconsin that Trump’s administration is roiling rural America. Republicans around the country are on the defensive as they field a wave of fresh frustration directly from farmers worried about price spikes from tariffs and funding freezes that have left many holding the bag for thousands of dollars they are owed in reimbursements.
Some concede there’s danger in the strategy. West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice said he believes that “our farmers are rock solid” with Trump but conceded that “of course there’s political risk” with the president’s approach.
“If they’re giving everything they got and we turn our back on ‘em, that ain’t gonna work, right?” the Republican said. “And that’s not gonna work with them.”
But many other lawmakers are continuing to voice support for Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, even if it brings economic harm to their constituents. Some Republicans see Musk as spurring excitement among base voters who admire the Tesla and SpaceX founder, and view his downsizing of government as a necessary albeit painful experience.
During a recent town hall, Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican representing a mostly rural section of Maryland, responded to a farmer in his district last month inquiring about a frozen grant — she said she is owed more than $36,000 from USDA for installing solar power on her farm — by criticizing “liberal politicians and pundits” for pushing “false narratives.”
He reiterated his support for DOGE in an email to that farmer viewed by Blue Light News.
The farmer, Laura Beth Resnick, joined a recent lawsuit against the Trump administration and argues withholding the funds is illegal. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently announced she would unfreeze three rural energy programs from the Inflation Reduction Act. But there’s a catch: Recipients were given 30 days to “voluntarily revise” their project plans to install solar panels or energy efficiency upgrades to align with the Trump administration’s elimination of DEI and climate “mandates.”
When Resnick followed up with Harris a few weeks later to check on progress getting the funding released, Harris responded by again sharing his support for DOGE’s efforts.
“DOGE will need help and assistance from Congress to slash our deficit, achieve energy independence, secure our borders, and return us on path to prosperity,” Harris wrote in that email. “That is why I am fighting for a sensible budget and to reverse reckless spending from failed Biden programs, while preserving Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.”
In Pennsylvania, another farmer distressed about the impacts of the administration’s funding freeze contacted Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), who told the farmer, granted anonymity to avoid retaliation, that DOGE’s work is a “crucial first step towards reducing unnecessary government spending,” in an email viewed by Blue Light News.
A McCormick spokesperson said in a statement that the senator is a “huge advocate for Pennsylvania’s agriculture community, with ag being the number one industry in the state.”
Republicans in Wisconsin maintain that they’re feeling confident about the Supreme Court race. Peter Church, the GOP chair in Adams County, a rural county in the northern part of the state , said “the Schimel campaign is in a good position.”
“I’m not hearing people talk about abortion at all. And I’m not hearing them talk about the tariff issue,” Church said in an interview. “These people are by and large red voters. And though the Supreme Court race is nonpartisan, they see that the red side is Brad Schimel.”
Shia Kapos contributed to this report.
National Democrats are increasingly shifting their attention away from North Carolina’s Senate race as polls show former Gov. Roy Cooper ahead, eyeing once long-shot races as possible pickups. But a veteran Democratic strategist who helped deliver the party’s last presidential victory in the state is urging donors not to take a win for granted.
David Plouffe, who managed behind Barack Obama’s narrow 2008 victory in North Carolina, urged Democratic donors and supporters not to grow complacent in the final weeks of Roy Cooper’s Senate campaign, according to audio obtained by Blue Light News.
“I think that this race … has I think been the best run race in the country,” Plouffe said on the call. “But that doesn’t mean that we can rest easy.”
He warned about North Carolina’s relatively fixed partisan makeup as a purple state, making it difficult for a candidate to dramatically expand their base of support.
“There’s certain states that elections happen within a bound, and this one will be that way as well,” he said.
In public polling, Cooper leads Republican Michael Whatley, who has struggled to boost his name recognition against the much better-known former governor. And as Democrats grow increasingly bullish on their candidate’s chances of flipping the seat — one of four pickups they need to take control of the Senate — national groups have begun shifting their money and attention to other contests, including most recently to Kansas.
But Plouffe said North Carolina needs to remain a priority.
“We have to win the ones we have to win,” he said on the call to Cooper’s finance committee.
Just days before Plouffe’s remarks, Senate Democrats’ top super PAC pulled back some of its spending in North Carolina, following a much bigger retreat by Republicans’ top super PAC in the state.
Plouffe cautioned that North Carolina has historically been a tough state for Democrats at the federal level, especially in recent years. The party hasn’t won a Senate race there since 2008, when Obama became the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state, winning by fewer than 15,000 votes. He lost the state in 2012.
“Even though we carried the electoral votes back then, we only did so by I think 14,000 votes. So it was our narrowest victory,” Plouffe said. “And in 2012, we tried to win North Carolina again with the help of so many people on this phone, and we just couldn’t get it done. And that tells you how difficult the state is.”
Plouffe also cast the stakes of Cooper’s race as extending beyond November, arguing that a Cooper victory could provide a blueprint for the party’s eventual 2028 presidential nominee.
“Democrats need to compete and win in North Carolina in 28,” he said. “And it’s one thing to look how a governor can win a state. The best route, the best scout that you receive, is how someone in a federal race won in a tough state, and that can show you the way.”
Byron Donalds says he is not a ‘yes man’ to Trump
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The progressive political action committee Justice Democrats has appointed Rev. Hodari Williams as its new executive director. The change sets the organization up to hone a civil rights message ahead of the 2028 election cycle, Williams told Blue Light News.
His appointment, shared first with Blue Light News, comes at a time when self-proclaimed progressives (and socialists) are flooding the scene. The PAC has had its most successful election cycle ever, helping seven candidates — including Donavan McKinney in Michigan, Melat Kiros in Colorado and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York — defeat incumbents in the primaries. While those candidates are heavily favored to win on Election Day, the fates of three other Justice Democrats candidates, including Tennessee’s state Rep. Justin Pearson, remain less certain going into November.
At one point, the group tried to get Williams to run for office. Though he declined, Williams said now is the right time to force change.
“America and its present-day politicians, from my experience, have a high blood pressure of promises and anemia of political courage,” Williams said in an interview, using a common Kenyan political expression. “Right now, JD is producing candidates who have the political courage to deal with the crises that are existing in marginalized and disenfranchised communities, and I want to be a part of that.”
Williams, 46, was born and raised in Lakewood, New Jersey. His parents were activists and community organizers who raised him on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. After graduating from Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, with his bachelor’s degree, he joined the NAACP as a field organizer for voter rights and empowerment while pursuing his Master’s of Divinity at the Interdenominational Theological Center. In his time with the NAACP, Williams traveled across the Black Belt, where he said he witnessed poverty and inequity up close.
“Civil rights traditionally has been something that people have tried to separate from progressivism … but these movements are inseparable,” said Williams. “What I witnessed in the South as a worker in voter rights and voter empowerment and education, and as a regional representative for the NAACP, was that the conditions that created inequity still existed and needed to be confronted and challenged.”
His work took him to Kenya, where he served as a program coordinator with the Presbyterian Church USA. In Nairobi, he supported the Green Belt Movement’s work against deforestation and its mission to highlight environmental justice as a tool for economic empowerment and self-determination.
Now, as some Black and brown voters express concerns of being tokenized by traditional Democratic candidates, Williams plans to bring his experience working in racial justice circles to his new role.
“I have worked in communities that have borne the brunt of failed promises from the current Democratic leadership,” Williams said. “I have opened the doors of my congregations to politicians and have experienced the absence of those politicians after the elections.”
He continued: “Black communities have become destinations for environmental hazards and data centers. Unemployment has risen. Black federal employees have been targeted. The list goes on. I’ve pastored these people. I’ve prayed with them. I’ve listened to them as they’ve shed tears. Now I’ve decided I want to move from triage work to really transformational work.”
Some of that work will require challenging other Black leaders.
“Unfortunately, many of our Black politicians have become victims of corporate capture, and their voices have been taken by entities like AIPAC,” said Williams, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “They have not really been able to stand for the issues that are affecting the communities that that many of us are fighting for, and JD candidates are free from that, and they’re free to take bold and significant action to move forward legislation.”
But with the 2026 election cycle nearly over, the PAC is already brainstorming how to establish a strong progressive coalition for the 2028 presidential election. That will mean convincing the mainstream Democratic party that Justice Democrats have built a lasting coalition of the party’s base, said Williams.
“We hope that the Democratic Party would see that we’re developing a blueprint to show them how the base is being energized around the issues that are kitchen table issues that people want us to deal with,” said Williams.
“It’s not enough for us just to have a call to defeat a fascist president. We don’t want a fascist president. We want him out, but we also want a vision of what America could look like when affordability, healthcare, civil rights, housing, and livable wages — all of those things are at the top of the political agenda,” he added.
Williams succeeds current executive director and co-founder Alexandra Rojas, who will become president of Justice Democrats’ board and will support Williams as a senior adviser.
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