At Milwaukee rally for Harris, young voters are hopeful — and motivated (2024)

MILWAUKEE — With the Democratic National Convention in full swing in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris took a break from the Windy City to travel an hour and a half north to Milwaukee for a rally in the pivotal battleground state.

"We will move forward," Harris told the crowd at Fiserv Forum, which just last month hosted the Republican National Convention. "Just like Wisconsin's motto tells us: Forward. Ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom."

Saying she was running “a people-powered campaign," Harris' remarks were partially broadcast to the DNC ahead offormer President Barack Obama's address to the crowd back in Chicago.

One particular group of potential voters Harris has been effective in motivating is Generation Z, a voting bloc that had warned for months that Biden had a problem engaging young voters.

"Oh my gosh, I’m so much more hopeful and enthusiastic," Milwaukee residentNatasha Voves, 26, said before Harris took the stage. "I feel like there’s hope, and the United States is going to progress even further now.There’s a chance that we can hopefully win this election. I’m so much more happy."

For 18-year-old Henry Pahlow, a first-time delegate and vice chair of the High School Democrats of America, Harris' message is one that resonates with Wisconsin's younger voters.

"Over these next few elections, Gen Z— my generation— is going to become the largest portion of the electorate, but we still turn out at lower rates than every other generation, which to me is unacceptable," the Maribel native said. "If young voters do turn out, that is going to be the factor that puts Kamala Harris in the Oval Office," Pahlow said.

Wisconsin had more than 3.4 million registered voters as of Aug. 1, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Of those, more than 263,000, or just over 13%, were 18 to 24 years old. Voters age 65 or older made up the largest voting demographic, with more than 1 million voters, or about 30% of the state's registered voters.

In Wisconsin's November 2022 election, thestate led the nation in turnout among voters age 18-24, with nearly half of eligible voters in that age group casting a ballot,Wisconsin Public Radio reported in May 2023.

Voter advocacy organizations like national youth voting group NextGen America have also pointed to the youth vote playing a pivotal role in electing liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz in April 2023.

Recent polling by Marquette Law School finds Harris and Trump deadlocked. However, the poll also found a major boost in voter enthusiasm among Democrats compared with Marquette's June survey.

Nineteen-year-old Liam Wolbers, of Oshkosh, said of the enthusiasm he has witnessed "has definitely changed a lot" since Harris became the party's presidential candidate.

"Just having that energy of a younger candidate helps a lot with any party, honestly, Democrat or Republican," Wolbers said while standing in line for Harris' rally at Fiserv Forum. An estimated 15,000 people attended the rally in Milwaukee, according to the Harris campaign.

Brian Schimming, chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, has downplayed the recent surveys as a "honeymoon period" that will fade as the election nears.

Schimming said Republicans plan to take Harris to task for what they view as the Biden administration's failures on issues ranging from inflation and the economy to security at the southern border.

First-time delegate and Dane County Sup. Henry Fries, of Madison, described the Democratic Party's momentum shift following the change from Biden to Harris as "a complete 180."

“The Democratic voter enthusiasm has jumped drastically, and a lot of that jump also comes from people in my age group, that 18- to 24-year-olds," Fries said. "They’re more energized and more fired up to be participating in this election— voting for the Democratic ticket— than they have been for the previous year or more, and that’s really encouraging and exciting.”

Addressing the crowd in Milwaukee, Walz leaned into the moment.

“For the young folks in here ... something's happening, and it all begins with Kamala Harris," Walz said.

Issues in focus

Pahlow, who earlier this year graduated from Denmark High School near Green Bay and will attend Harvard University this fall, said "younger voters aren’t a monolith, but I think there are general issues that we care about that are going to mobilize us.”

Those include reproductive health and abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade two years ago, climate change and gun control, Pahlow added.

Democrats have kept abortion access front and center this year, with hopes that the issue will continue to carry Democratic candidates like Harris to victory. The DNC on Monday included speeches from women whose health care access was limited after Roe was overturned and a video of Trump touting his role in getting Roe struck down.

Standing in line for Harris' rally Tuesday, 18-year-oldIsabella Mariucci, of Oshkosh, said reproductive health has been a huge motivator for her as she prepares to vote in her first presidential election.

"My enthusiasm has gone up a ton" since Harris launched her campaign, Mariucci said. "Initially, I was worried almost, but now I’m hopeful."

To the polls

Despite the boost in enthusiasm, Pahlow said one persistent challenge remains: Turning the momentum among younger residents into actual votes this fall.

"The biggest blockade to getting young people to the polls is always an information gap," Pahlow said. "They have the enthusiasm. They just don’t know how to register. They don’t know where their polling place is. We want to clear that up."

To address low voter engagement, groups like the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin— which does not take a position on either candidate— are seekingto educate different groups of voters, including younger voters, on Wisconsin's electoral process, including how to register and vote, Executive Director Debra Cronmiller said.

Fostering that participation at an early age can have lasting effects, she said.

"For the first election after someone turns 18, if they vote in that election, their propensity to be a lifelong voter has just skyrocketed," Cronmiller said.

State Journal reporter Samara Kalk Derby contributed to this report.