Mid-term campaign report out of Wisconsin's rural-ish third district

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports today on the race for Wisconsin's Third Congressional District. Here's an excerpt from the story by Lawrence Andrea:  

Just how important to Democrats is holding on to Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District?

Well, one candidate jumped head-first out of an airplane to draw some attention to her campaign.

The race for the district that covers much of Western and central Wisconsin was left wide-open after Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind announced last year he would not seek re-election. And Republicans see the seat — one of the state’s most competitive — as among their best chances to regain control of the House of Representatives in November.

Kind’s rural district, like others across the Midwest, has trended redder in recent years. Barack Obama won the district in 2012, but Donald Trump carried it in 2016 and 2020. Kind defeated GOP challenger and former U.S. Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden, who is running again this year, by just three percentage points in 2020. He was one of just seven Democrats nationwide to win in districts that Trump won that year.

Democrats at their state convention last month in the heart of the district acknowledged that rural voting trend and projected a sense of urgency, citing things like challenges to the 2020 presidential election and the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling protecting abortion access to make the case that “democracy” is on the ballot this year.

“I’m just the third Democrat in 160 years to be representing this congressional district, so it hasn’t always been easy,” Kind, who has represented the area in Congress since 1997, told a crowd of delegates at the La Crosse Center on June 25. “But I proved that Democrats can win in areas like this and throughout the state. We’re going to need to do it again.”

Still, as the leading Democratic candidates seeking to fill Kind’s seat railed against Republicans and their GOP challenger, they also sought to stand out in their own field just over a month before Wisconsin’s Aug. 9 primaries.

They did so largely by trying to connect with rural voters who have drifted away from the party.

After the heading "Rural America Matters" the story features details on each candidate, and comments from them. Then there is this closing:  

But Democrats remain optimistic about their chances of maintaining the seat, with some indicating they expect hot-button issues like abortion and gun control to energize Democrats, whose voter enthusiasm has waned this year.

Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki noted the trends in the rural district but pointed out that each Democratic candidate has his or her own strengths. Those differences, he said, are a positive for Democrats in rural areas that are "evolving and changing all the time."

"They are all really important voices for Democrats who are trying to regain a foothold in rural Wisconsin," Zepecki said.

In La Crosse in late June, Kind ended his convention speech by reiterating his endorsement of Pfaff and stressing that he does not think Democrats can wait until the Aug. 9 primary to coalesce around a candidate.

“I’m afraid if we wait around until the primary shakes out in the middle of August, the other side is going to be locked and loaded,” Kind said. “They’re going to be ready to go.”

But others see that timing a bit differently.

"The Right is already loaded for bear in this election," Zepecki said. "They know that their path to a majority lies in districts like Wisconsin three. It doesn't matter (who Dems nominate), they're coming."

"If there is a 'D' next to their name, they're going to throw the kitchen sink at whoever it is."

That last line reminds me of this from Democratic strategist Ruy Teixeira: 

The current Democratic brand suffers from multiple deficiencies that make it somewhere between uncompelling and toxic to wide swaths of American voters who might potentially be their allies.