There are under 50 days until the presidential election on November 5th.
The presidential election is heating up.
Local party members have been busy campaigning around the Northwoods.
Lillis Raboin staffs the Vilas County Democrats Mobile Headquarter, a trailer stationed in Eagle River for the day.
I met her while she was handing out political signs and talking to those who stopped by their trailer.
“They're very, very, very fired up, excited about our candidates,” she said.
Raboin said enthusiasm for Democratic candidates has been off the charts, which she attributes to the recent Democratic National Convention and debate between Trump and Harris.
Their mobile headquarters is new this year.
“It's a little bit of a hassle to not have a building that, like we have sometimes in the past, but I think this is kind of a creative idea, and I'm on board for it, and we have a good list of volunteers,” she explained.
She said she thinks by having a mobile headquarters, they increased their visibility.
Raboin said they recognize that Vilas County is known as a Republican area, and that’s why every vote matters.
“A tiny little, little shift, a few votes in Vilas County can actually matter. So even though we recognize that, you know, this is known as a pretty red area, meaning a Republican area, it's not only that, and any vote that we can get is going to be helpful. So, you know, that's kind of our goal,” she explained.
In Merrill, the Republican Party of Lincoln County has an office that’s been seeing a lot of foot traffic.
They hand out political signs and merchandise.
This week, Greg Hartwig, Vice Chair of the party, said they had homemade MAGA cookies.
“The enthusiasm is just out of this world right now, and people are bringing us things. The cookies were donated for us, for donations. Somebody else donated a tumbler with Trump on it,” he said.
There's been a lot of interest.
“All kinds of people came up and talked to us, and we're getting signs. And I registered, I even registered a voter there and a lot of Republicans are talking about voting early. I didn't hear that four years ago,” he said.
As of Friday, Lincoln County has received 1,472 applications for absentee ballots.
Hartwig said they were campaigning at the North Central Wisconsin Gun Collectors Association’s show a few weeks ago and had a Trump boat flotilla this summer on Lake Alexander in Merrill.
He says excitement is running high
“People are just enthusiastic about it,” he said.
The presidential election is on November 5th. If you’re voting absentee, your ballot needs to be requested by October 31st.
If you haven’t registered yet, you can check out this link.
You’ll also be able to register day-of at your polling location.
