Day 2 of DNC highlights a Milwaukee man's pension struggle, efforts to win back rural voters
CHICAGO (CBS 58) -- Wisconsin's delegation was impossible to miss on the second night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Tuesday. Ahead of the roll call, delegates all wore Cheesehead hats, just like they did in this very building during the 1996 DNC and Republican delegates did during the Republican National Convention (RNC) last month in Milwaukee.
For all the smiles the foam fromage brought, there was also plenty of serious conversation during both the afternoon sessions and the evening program. It included talk about protections for pensions, and that's when a man from Milwaukee took the stage.
Kenneth Stribling stood with a group of Teamsters. A union truck driver for 30 years, doing local runs across southeastern Wisconsin, Stribling said he got involved in politics when he learned his pension fund was running out of money.
"My pension was being threatened by a 55% reduction," he said. "I was about to lose 55% of my hard-earned benefit."
Stribling has since become president of the National United Committee to Preserve Pensions. After he learned his wife, Beverly, had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, Stribling said his efforts became personal.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, which included enough money to ensure struggling pension plans would be fully funded through 2051.
The Biden administration announced in June the provision had preserved one million pensions from deductions. White House estimates counted 33,000 of those pensions belonging to Wisconsinites.
"I cried," Stribling said of the day the bill became law. "I cried, and I looked up at the sky, and I thanked [Beverly] for encouraging me to get involved and stay involved."
Reaching rural voters
Democrats believe a worker-focused message can also help them stop the pattern of rural communities becoming increasingly more Republican.
During a council meeting at McCormick Place Tuesday afternoon, a group of Democrats discussed how they can more effectively reach rural voters.
"What we've gotta do is we've gotta run and govern where people live. When people wake up in the morning, they're not thinking about the presidential election," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said. "They're thinking about their job and whether they make enough to support their families. They're thinking about their next doctor's appointment. They're thinking about the roads and bridges they drive that day."
Deborah McGrath, a Democrat who ran for Congress in western Wisconsin but lost the primary election in 2022, said she would keep working to win over more of her neighbors.
"It's person to person and they're not forgotten, that economic policies and human rights policies are for them, regardless about party," McGrath said. "Forget about the name of the parent your parents or grandparents voted for, don't even think about it."
McGrath is from Menomonie. Dunn County has largely leaned Republican; former President Donald Trump won the county by 11 percentage points in 2016, then he won it by 14 points in 2020.
McGrath said she drew optimism from the 2023 state Supreme Court contest, when liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz took Dunn County.
A headliner for a reason
Former President Barack Obama closed out Tuesday's DNC program in his hometown of Chicago. Mr. Obama is a central figure in Wisconsin presidential politics, too.
Since 2000, four of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by one percentage point or less. The two exceptions were 2008 and 2012, when Mr. Obama was at the top of the Democratic ticket.
The former president has since rallied in Wisconsin on behalf of other Democrats, including a 2022 speech at North Division High School on behalf of Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes.
Stribling said it meant a lot to be selected as part of the program Tuesday night.
"It's an honor to be here and represent a state that has such an important role in this campaign, this election," he said.