President Joe Biden's reelection campaign is setting the stage to have a presence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the first Republican presidential debate will take place next week.
Campaign co-chairman Cedric Richmond and Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison will be on the ground in the city, while the Biden campaign will make an ad buy in battleground states specifically targeting Hispanic and black media.
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"Next week’s Republican debate will put on display just how extreme and out of touch the Republican candidates are with the American people. That’s why we’re using the debate as an opportunity to activate and energize our supporters, as well as expand support for the Biden-Harris ticket and our agenda for the middle class and protecting Americans' freedoms," Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
"The 2024 Republican primary is a race for the MAGA base, not an effort to earn the support of the voters they’ll need to win in November 2024 — and our campaign will be making that stark contrast and the important choice before voters very clear," she added.
Harrison and Richmond's effort in Milwaukee will include a press conference ahead of the GOP debate, and Harrison will also hold events with black and young voters in the greater Milwaukee area.
“Next week, the American people will be introduced to the most extreme slate of presidential candidates in history. Candidates will take to the stage to out-MAGA each other, and we will ensure that every American knows that,” Harrison said in a statement.
"We are more than happy to spotlight just how extreme their positions are, whether it be their support for a national abortion ban, or their efforts to gut Social Security and Medicare, and expect next week to activate the overwhelming majority of Americans that have rejected the MAGA agenda time and time again," he added.
The advertising blitz by the campaign will include three billboards and a billboard truck around the debate venue in downtown Milwaukee, which will tout Biden's accomplishments from his first term. The DNC and campaign will also have a war room set up to respond to comments Republican candidates make during the debate.
Wisconsin is set to be a critical battleground state in the 2024 presidential election after the state voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. The GOP has placed significant importance on the Badger State by holding its 2024 convention there in July of next year.
In the 2022 elections, Wisconsin split parties for its top two statewide races, with incumbents Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) both winning reelection.
The Republican debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday is set to feature most of the top candidates, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, among others. Trump has not announced if he will be attending the debate.
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In the Republican primary field, Trump is the clear front-runner, with roughly 40% on the rest of the candidates, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
In hypothetical general election match-ups between Trump and Biden, the current president holds a slight advantage over the former president, per the RealClearPolitics polling average. Biden's campaign surrogates, however, are not concerned by the close poll numbers and say they are confident Biden will pull further ahead of Trump in the polls.