Wisconsin voters dish on midterms: For them, it's personal
Our "CBS Mornings" series "Three Meals" is back on the road, to break bread with voters in key states and hear what's on their minds. This morning, correspondent Adriana Diaz takes us to the battleground state of Wisconsin – the only state that went for President Biden two years ago and where a Republican senator is up for re-election this year.
Breakfast
As day breaks over Lake Michigan, most of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is still asleep. But Frank's, a standalone diner that's almost a hundred years old, is overflowing. "This is a place where you have to know everybody's names," said Brandon Morris, one of the customers at Frank's. "Like 'Cheers,' yeah!"
College students Mary Travis and Alex LeTendre came for breakfast, and a break from the barrage of political ads.
Diaz asked, "In Wisconsin, an abortion ban from the 1800s is now in effect. Is that top of mind?"
"Yeah, it is," Travis replied. "I would really like to vote for politicians that, you know, want to overturn that, as opposed to, 'Well, they said it was fine in the 1800s, and why should we ever change laws,' you know?"
Abortion is one of the top issues for Democrats in the critical Senate race. Republicans here care more about the economy. They want to keep Republican Senator Ron Johnson in office. But he's neck-and-neck with Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes, the current lieutenant governor.
But you can't tell the story of Kenosha without talking about 2020. Violent protests followed the shooting by police of a Black man, Jacob Blake. During those days of unrest, a young White man, Kyle Rittenhouse, shot and killed two people. He said it was self-defense, and was recently acquitted.
Diaz asked Brandon, "After the violence in this city, Kenosha really swung red. Do you think people are still there?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure," he replied. "I think it's a little bit of both. We might not be so red. We might be purple."
Grandmother Mary Neckuty has voted for both parties. She told Diaz she knows who she's voting for this time, but when asked to share, she laughed.
"What matters to you this midterm election?" Diaz asked.
"Equality for all," Neckuty said. "It just really makes me angry when I think about how people are so prejudiced against someone else because of their beliefs, or because of their color of their skin. That's just stupidity."
Prejudice recently landed in the mailbox at Frank's, when owner Kevin Ervin received a letter from a group of white supremacists. He got emotional as he said, "It's just one more incidence of how this country is, how split it is. It saddens us. Our son is African-American. My granddaughter is African-American. You know, it's just … Sorry. Not what I want for her."
For everyone "CBS Mornings" spoke to, this election is personal. And everyone we asked said they plan to vote.
But what about the rest of the state?
Lunch
We headed up shore for lunch, in Wisconsin's most populous city, Milwaukee. Milwaukee County is also home to roughly 70 percent of Wisconsin's Black population. Analysts say in 2016 Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin due in part to low Black turnout here. That turnout declined again in 2020, so the effort to get out the Black vote is on.
And it's fueled by caffeine at Coffee Makes You Black, located in a former bank building. It's part café, part political pit stop.
Community organizer Shequila Morrison (who's already voted early), and her friend, bus driver Farina Brooks (who never misses an election), said Milwaukee needs help, and fast. "There's a long list of issues," said Brooks.
"Homicide, less jobs, poverty, no resources," said Morrison.
The two hope local elections drive change, in a zip code known as one of the nation's most incarcerated and impoverished.
Morrison, who's also a poll worker, said the turnout she's already seen this year has been low. "I need my people to come vote!" she said.
Dinner
To fully understand Wisconsin, you have to leave the cities, to where the changing leaves reflect a changing electorate. To give you an idea of how purple this state is: 23 counties flipped from Obama to Trump in 2016, and two counties flipped back to Biden in 2020. One of them is Sauk County, home to more than 1,900 working farms.
We stopped in at Ski-Hi Fruit Farm, in Baraboo, where you can fill up on apples, donuts … and dinner.
When asked about the county's history of flipping, Brian Schmidt (who owns a landscaping business with his wife, Stephanie) said, "It goes back and forth, and everybody you talk to, they change their tune every time you talk to 'em, some people, you know what I mean?"
The Schmidts are focused on the economy. "I guess we lean more a little Republican a little bit, you know, with stuff," Schmidt said. "'Cause [Democrats], you know, kinda had control and it kinda went the wrong way – everything did, the economy, the border and crime. You know, everything's gotten a little soft."
We met Aaron Halvorson and his wife, Erin … or as their friends call them, the "Aarons."
Diaz asked, "What are the issues that really matter to you guys?"
"So, first and foremost, affordable health care for everybody," Aaron Halvorson replied. "Women's rights to choose, and definitely quality education."
"Sauk County went for Obama, then went for Trump, and then went for Biden. Do you have a sense of which way it's gonna go?"
Based on signs they see while driving around, Aaron said, "It looks like a toss-up."
A toss-up that's typical in this purple state's politics.
Watch our previous "Three Meals" visits with voters, in Pennsylvania and Arizona.
