Wisconsin Dems tout 16,000 volunteers signed on since Kamala Harris rose to top of ticket
MADISON – Wisconsin Democrats announced Thursday the party has worked with 16,000 new volunteers since Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the party's nominee last month.
The party also announced that, with the opening of two new offices in the liberal stronghold of Dane County, Democrats now have 50 coordinated campaign offices in 43 counties, with more than 250 full-time staff and more than 500,000 doors knocked since the Biden-to-Harris shift.
Democrats have always understood the importance of Dane County, longtime Democratic strategist and senior adviser to the Harris campaign Tanya Bjork told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — but that importance has only grown year after year as the population and Democratic vote share continue to increase.
Harris was scheduled to hold a rally early in the evening in Madison on Friday. Her return to Wisconsin is part of a swing through "blue wall" battleground states including Pennsylvania and Michigan.
More: Wisconsin Teamsters endorse Harris, breaking from national union
Dane County, the campaign noted, is the fastest-growing county in the state.
Since the beginning of this decade, Dane County's population has increased by 2.5%. It grew from an estimated 561,508 residents in April 2020 to more than 575,300 in July 2023 ― about an additional 14,000 residents. Much of this growth occurred in one year. Between July 2022 and July 2023, the county added more than 7,500 residents.
The campaign said it would dial in its focus on young voters with an office next to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and an organizer dedicated to college voters at UW-Madison and Madison Area Technical College.
Harris' latest swing follows the campaign's "New Way Forward" tour and the only scheduled debate between Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
"Kamala Harris is coming to Madison in hopes that voters can be duped into a second term of Bidenomics and open borders," Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming said in a statement. "Despite the best efforts of Democrats, Wisconsinites see through the manufactured false facade to the gaping pit of insincerity and indifference rife in the Harris-Walz campaign."
More: Hannibal Lecter, Al Capone and a list of promises. Takeaways from Trump's Mosinee rally
Madison most recently hosted a presidential campaign rally when President Joe Biden visited Sherman Middle School in July, as he faced calls from within his own party to abandon his reelection bid following his debate against Trump.
A new Marquette University Law School poll released last week showed Harris with a four-point lead over Trump. It also showed Harris leading for the first time among the most enthusiastic voters, while Trump held that advantage when President Joe Biden was still in the race and during the early days of Harris' own campaign.
Harris' last Wisconsin rally was at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum on Aug. 20, appearing along with Walz during the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Dems tout influx of volunteers since Kamala Harris emerged