Tammy Baldwin fights to maintain appeal in rural Wisconsin amid Democratic slide
In rural Wisconsin, dairy farmer Randy Roecker is struggling — but while he blames Joe Biden, he's also planning to support Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
REEDSBURG, Wis. — In rural Wisconsin, dairy farmer Randy Roecker is at a breaking point — and he blames it partly on President Joe Biden, so is planning to vote for Donald Trump for a third time this November.
“Farmers are hurting like you wouldn’t believe, and I myself, I am to the point of throwing up my hands and saying I’m done,” said Roecker, who owns and operates Roecker’s Rolling Acres in Loganville and cited inflation as straining his business for the last two years.
But while he's planning to vote on booting the Democratic president, Roecker's also planning to vote to keep his Democratic senator, Tammy Baldwin.
“I support her all the way. I mean, no question,” Roecker said. “And everybody I know — the farmers — everybody says that she’s great for Wisconsin agriculture.”
Baldwin is bracing for a tough re-election race against likely Republican nominee Eric Hovde, a multimillionaire and bank owner who loaned $8 million of his own money to his campaign in the first quarter of the year, according to FEC filings. But she has the advantage of incumbency, and has used it to often outperform other statewide Democrats in rural counties, even as the party as a whole has lost significant ground in rural America in recent decades.
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