October 3, 2024
On September 27, 2024, Bill McCoshen, a partner of Michael Best, a well-known lobbyist, and political commentator, traveled to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and provided insight on the election races this fall. Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce hosted the monthly Eggs and Issues policy breakfast at the Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC), as an informative presentation and discussion for Eau Claire residents, local businesses, and other officials to learn more about this impactful and historic election. He is predicting that former president Trump will win the presidential election, a likely close reelection of Senator Tammy Baldwin, and a slim majority win for the Republicans to control Wisconsin's state assembly.
McCoshen started the presentation with some introductions about his work history, party affiliation, and current work while then elaborating on the essential civic duty to vote. Michael (Bill) McCoshen has decades of experience at Wisconsin's Governor's Office, acted as cabinet secretary, with skills of advocation and efficient advisor for political strategies based upon his decades amount of work. He furthered this message by providing critical points to the 2024 election as historic based upon three key factors: the earliest general election debate ever in history on June 27th, an assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump on July 13th, the latest resignation by president Joseph Biden (107 days out from the election), and vice president's nomination and declaration to run for president on July 23rd. All of these factors, as McCoshen puts it, make this year's election critical for the future of our democracy and livelihood.
Pictured above: Bill McCoshen explaining historic presidential election
His presentation was split up into three categories; the presidential election, the senate races and matchups, as well as the legislative election races. While he stressed the importance of staying informed with the presidential election, he did not disregard the senate and legislative races, which he responded as these will impact cities such as Eau Claire.
Pictured above: Slide about impactful voting WI districts
As seen in these two subsequent pictures, McCoshen highlights essential Wisconsin districts that typically impact the elections on both the senate and legislative races, also including local races like assembly districts and city council positions. Eau Claire, as Bill McCoshen declared, is held within the top 14 most influential counties where the votes from the state stem from. Another aspect Bill elaborates on is that Eau Claire, as we have seen previously, is only growing higher on this list every election cycle.
Pictured above: McCoshen explaining candidate matchups in the race
Towards the end of his presentation, McCoshen adds remarks about the voting process, political advertising, and party funding during the election season. He furthers this idea by connecting this to the desires of the American people before opening it up for questions. The three key issues that are seen as the most concerning amongst the American people, according to McCoshen, are the economy (and state thereof), border (implementation), and abortion (the rights and access). After his presentation, he gave keen responses to attendants on their concerns from the state of political polarization in the country to health care access and all in between.
Note: The Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce does not endorse candidates nor wishes to persuade who one should or should not vote for. The purpose of the chamber and this article is to provide alternative routes of information for local businesses, residents, and everyone, by accessing more access to information about governmental affairs which includes this year's election.
More Information:
Chamber event speaker predicts Trump win, Republicans control Wisconsin Senate (Leader-Telegram)
PDF of Presented Slides
Posted by Johnny Meagher & Gigi Galdamez, Governmental Affairs Interns
meagher@eauclairechamber.org
galdamez@eauclairechamber.org