In photos: Wisconsin’s Kenosha County continues divisive trend for 2024 election

By Emily Ramirez >>

For a century, Wisconsin has been a swing state in American politics, basically up for grabs to either a Democrat or a Republican running for president. 

Kenosha County in southeastern Wisconsin, less than an hour north of solidly blue Chicago, has reflected that same division in the past three presidential elections. 

In the 2012  presidential election, Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, won Kenosha County by a margin of about 12 percentage points, with 55.47% of votes going to Obama compared to 43.23% of votes going to Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Obama went on to win the entire state of Wisconsin in that election.

In 2016, the margin shrank to 0.33 percentage points, with former President Donald Trump winning 46.85% of Kenosha County voters compared to Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton’s 46.52%, marking the first time since 1972 that a majority of Kenosha County voted for the Republican ticket. 

In August 2022, the Kenosha County primary showed 57.4% of  ballot casters in the county identified as Republicans compared to 42.34% who identified as Democrats. Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would later win the statewide election in November of that year. 

In the August primary held this year, the majority party in the county switched to 56.73% Democrat and 42.88% Republican. 

Victoria Dominguez, 74, a longtime resident of Kenosha County noted changes in the political climate. 

“I have seen that people seem to be more open about letting other people know their preferred parties,” Dominguez said. “The Trump supporters are a little more vocal, but Democrats and the other third parties are simply silent, but present.” 

In August 2020, as the country was reeling from protests following the murder of George Floyd, a police officer in Kenosha shot and seriously injured Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. In the civil unrest that followed, Kyle Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, shot two people in Kenosha but was eventually acquitted of all charges in a criminal trial. The trial divided the nation, particularly over issues of gun rights and vigilantism.

For many in the county, the shooting, protests and the aftermath is what pushed them to vote. Dominguez voted for the first time in that election.

“After the protests that happened in Kenosha due to race profiling, our community seemed to be wanting some changes,” Dominguez said. “The county has grown a lot and I also have seen that the number of Hispanic and Latino have grown as well. I am hoping that my vote counts to support changes to our Hispanic communities.”

For the November 2020 election, the Trump-Pence ticket  won Kenosha County by a margin of 3.14%, but lost the state of Wisconsin as a whole. 

Four years later, the county is still divided over issues of gun rights. Both major political parties are attempting to reach out to voters through canvassing and rallies. In the month leading up to the Nov. 5 election, Republican and Democratic canvassers went door-to-door in Kenosha.

This photo essay represents a snapshot from those events.

Republican Party

From Sept. 23 to 25, the Trump campaign led rallies across the state of Wisconsin ending in Waukesha, an hour north of Kenosha. The bus tour had the goal of hyping up voters and emphasizing the importance of reaching out. Rally goers spent the hour before the start of the rally discussing their excitement over a second Trump term. 

Kathleen Summerhill, 41, was a volunteer for Trump Force 47, Turning Point USA and America First Policy Institute. Her inspiration for volunteering comes from her passion and worries about the economy. “I’m a mom of three kids, and I’m single. So everything that I do is dependent on me.” 

Hilario Deleon, 23, chair of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, shared those worries about the economy. The 2024 election “is one of the single most important elections of our lifetimes,” Deleon said. He added that energy independence and taxes were also top issues for voters.

Democratic Party

The Kenosha County Democratic Party hosted three watch parties on Oct. 1 for the vice presidential debate between Democratic running mate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, and Republican running mate JD Vance, a senator from Ohio.

Two watch parties were located in the city of Kenosha with one held west of Interstate 94, known locally as Westosha. Local bar Union Park Tavern held another with about 20 attendees. Over half of the attendees were under the age of 35.

Andrew Weber, 32, will be voting in his third presidential election in November. He said the threat of Project 2025 is driving him and other young voters to the polls. “When I found out about that, the stakes got much higher. It’s not going to do much to me, but I have a lot of people that it is absolutely going to destroy,” Weber said. Project 2025 is the 922-page blueprint for an incoming conservative president from the Heritage Foundation that Trump has tried to distance himself from in the weeks leading up to the election.

Along with Project 2025, reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights are driving factors for first-time voter Roux Davis, 18, who said, “The election determines whether or not I have the right to my own decisions.”

Not all young voters share the same views. Tyler Kelly, 22, has been following the Harris campaign, including viewing a rally held in Milwaukee arena Fiserv Forum. Having voted in 2020, Kelly said the 2024 election carries new excitement with Harris as the candidate. “I just really feel the energy,” Kelly said. “I think young people are ready to turn out in droves and elect Kamala Harris to be president.”

Emily Ramirez is a marketing major at Columbia College Chicago. They are from Trevor, Wisconsin. Talia Sprague is photojournalist from Chicago whose work focuses on politics and daily life.

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