Vang: Is Trumpism losing its hold on my red Wisconsin town, and others like it?

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I live in a small and picturesque river town right across the border in Wisconsin called Prescott. The downtown, with its Main Street lined with historic buildings now home to modern businesses, feels like a scene straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

In the last few weeks, watching the Wisconsin Supreme Court race unfold in my community was like watching Jackson Pollock splatter paint all over Rockwell’s canvas. But instead of paint, both the Republicans and Democrats were throwing mud — nonstop.

In the election earlier this week, Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate emerged victorious against Brad Schimel, a challenger endorsed by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Yes, Musk, the billionaire who spends a lot of his time trying to colonize Mars and have babies, decided that our state’s judicial race was worth his attention.

Let’s not forget the image of Musk donning a cheesehead hat — because nothing screams Wisconsin values like a tech mogul from Silicon Valley trying to pass as a Packers fan. All right, I’ll also admit that Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros supported Crawford.

The Obamas and Musks of the world understand that Wisconsin’s judicial race was about more than just a judicial seat. It served as a proxy for the larger national political debate, a microcosm of the fight over democracy itself. And in that battle, something fascinating happened — Wisconsin Republicans, known for their cutthroat electioneering, seemed to lose their grip a bit. The usual playbook of fearmongering and right-wing media hysteria didn’t work like it used to. Instead, I witnessed firsthand what effective messaging from the Democrats looks like. (It’s been a long time.)

Prescott is a town that bleeds red on election maps. I was inundated with ads from the Republican Party running constantly on the radio, television and through texts. This is Trump country, where lawn signs during presidential elections are so overwhelmingly Republican that I’ve memorized the names of local GOP candidates just by driving to the local grocery store.

But this time? Silence. The usual display of MAGA pride was oddly subdued from my 4,000-plus neighbors. Maybe they were exhausted. Maybe they lost their federal government jobs. Maybe receiving a $1 million dollar check couldn’t buy their votes. Maybe, just maybe, they were finally starting to see through the noise. Maybe the last two or three weeks of cold rain meant that folks just didn’t want to go outside and put up their signs.

One thing I do know — Democrats showed up in Prescott. In the 11 years I’ve lived in Prescott, I can count on one hand the number of times a Democratic organizer has knocked on my door. In the last two weeks? I lost track. The sheer volume of outreach was staggering. Volunteers were everywhere, hitting the pavement, making calls, sending texts. And it wasn’t just party-line talking points — it was personal. When a fellow Asian American from Wisconsin reached out to encourage me to vote for Crawford, it struck a chord. It wasn’t just about a judicial race. It was about representation. It was about having a voice in a system that has historically shut us out.

Of course, this wasn’t a cheap victory. Money poured into the state at an unprecedented level, fueling ad campaigns, mailers and grassroots organizing efforts. The amount of cash spent was almost obscene. I read the spending overall was close to $100 million, with Musk and his affiliated groups alone spending $21 million to defeat Crawford.

So the result of the election — Crawford winning — revealed something crucial: Wisconsinites, once a reliable conservative stronghold, are growing disillusioned with Trumpism. The blind allegiance is cracking. The same voters who once cheered for his every word are now looking at the state of their communities, their rights, and their futures — and wondering if they backed the wrong horse.

This election didn’t just determine the ideological lean of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. It was a litmus test for the state’s political trajectory. And while Republicans remain a force, their grip is slipping. The Democrats, for the first time in a long time, looked like they knew what they were doing. And the voters — especially the ones who stayed silent — seemed to take notice.

On a cold, rainy Tuesday night after work, I dragged myself out of bed just as the polls were about to close. I was sick and nearly skipped voting. But then I thought of the dedicated volunteers who braved the cold to knock on my door, urging me to participate. That was enough to get me to City Hall to cast my ballot.

If Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race is any indication, Trumpism isn’t as unstoppable as it once seemed. The real question now isn’t whether the tide is shifting — it’s whether Democrats can sustain the momentum. If they can, Wisconsin just might defy more expectations.