In Chicago, Vice Presidential Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are at the center of a raucous, joyful Democratic National Convention. Meanwhile, Sen. JD Vance is out there on the road, doing the hard, dirty work of being Donald Trump’s running mate.
On Tuesday, Vance was within 40 miles of the site of last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. But what Vance found in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was not exactly an energetic crowd ready to cheer him to the rafters. In fact, it’s hard to call it a “crowd” at all.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel set Vance’s audience at 100 attendees. But looking at videos of the event, that number seems … generous.
A little careful editing when Vance climbed onto the platform and it’s almost possible to believe there were a decent number of people present.
But pan that camera around, and the illusion disintegrates.
This turnout might be understandable if Vance were holding an event in, say, Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky. But Kenosha is not a small place. This is a city with a population of just under 100,000, and it’s less than an hour away from Milwaukee, a city of over half a million. It shouldn’t be difficult to turn out a crowd to a scheduled event. Considering the number of reporters trailing Vance on his tour, it seems likely that the media outnumbered the potential voters at this appearance.
This isn’t just a matter of numbers. Turnout like this likely reflects voters’ very low enthusiasm to get out and see Vance in person. Considering that Trump won Kenosha County in 2020, with 44,972 votes, this pitiful showing indicates that not even Trump voters appear interested in seeing Vance.
In any case, it’s a good thing that Vance’s boss famously isn’t worried about crowd size.
