WI Young Republicans open Waukesha office
WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Wisconsin GOP opened a new office for Young Republicans in Waukesha over the weekend.
On Saturday, June 15, party members held a grand opening of the Southeast Regional Headquarters for Wisconsin Young Republicans. Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Eric Hovde was there to meet the volunteers who will be campaigning for him.
"It's really important to have an office like this that can get out and door knock and talk to people in this community," Hovde said.
Political expert Mordecai Lee tells CBS 58 it is no surprise the party chose Waukesha as the home base for the Wisconsin Young Republicans.
"In the last presidential election, I think you could almost say that it was Waukesha County that decided that Joe Biden would win Wisconsin instead of President Trump," Lee said.
Hovde is hoping to unseat two-term Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin.
"I think in this case, this race could go either way," Lee said. "It looks to me that this is turning into a classic kind of race. There's an incumbent who has been reelected several times, who has high name recognition and generally a positive image and then you've got the challenger who is saying, 'time for a change.'"
Just weeks before the Republican National Convention, former President Donald Trump called the host city Milwaukee "horrible." While many expressed outrage at the comment, GOP leaders said they are not concerned about this impacting the elections when asked by CBS 58 if they thought it would.
"No," Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said. "In fact, really, the truth of the matter is, it's a diversion, all of this is a diversion. Joe Biden cannot run on his record right now."
Mr. Trump said his comment was about crime rates in Milwaukee, and Hovde said he has plans to reduce it if elected.
"The whole movement of 'defund the police' did so much damage. So, we have to fund the police," he said. "We have to put prosecutors that are going to put the rights of victims and innocent people ahead of criminals."
The former president is slated to be in Racine on Tuesday to rally voters there.