‘In the trenches’: Wisconsin’s struggling small businesses could turn a Trump ally’s district blue

Small-business distress is shaping a competitive House contest in western Wisconsin's third district, where Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a committed Donald Trump supporter, faces Democrat Rebecca Cooke in her third attempt at the seat. Cooke is courting voters worn down by high costs, while Van Orden has defended the administration's record. Outside groups have spent tens of millions of dollars on the race ahead of Tuesday's midterms, according to The Guardian.

The Guardian highlights Erin Klaus, who runs the downtown nonprofit Downtown Eau Claire Inc. and will close her artisan shop, Tangled Up in Hue, after 18 years. Sales have slid for two years, tariffs on her T-shirts raised her costs, expired Affordable Care Act subsidies and a new paid parking program added to the pressure, and she has been covering payroll from her other income. Amy Burke Lepper, an interior designer in Chippewa Falls, says tariffs now apply to her Canadian cabinets, clients are delaying home construction, and her family's monthly health premium climbed from over $1,000 to nearly $3,000, leaving her uninsured.

Ron Kind held the seat for over twenty years before Van Orden won it in 2022. Voters there chose Obama twice and Trump three times.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →