With GOP convention over, Milwaukee weighs benefits of hosting political rivals
MILWAUKEE — MILWAUKEE (AP) — Downtown Milwaukee turned red last week as thousands Republican National Convention Delegates and other party stalwarts gathered in Wisconsin’s largest Democratic stronghold to officially celebrate rally behind Donald Trump as a presidential candidate in this swing state.
Outside the security zone where the convention was taking place, residents grumbled, ignored or shrugged throughout the event that served to galvanize the GOP and give Trump momentum.
Milwaukee Democratic Mayor Cavalier Johnson wasted no time in calling the convention a success, though he will now focus his efforts on defeating Trump in November.
“We’ve demonstrated our city’s ability to host a major, large-scale event,” Johnson said Thursday. “It’s important for the tens of thousands of visitors and the future of our hospitality industry right here in Milwaukee.”
But it will take months to assess the economic impact on Milwaukee, and complaints are mounting, including about blocked streets and storefronts. disappointing restaurant reservations and the use of agents from outside the city to monitor the city.
Residents also won’t soon forget that Trump described Milwaukee as “Horrible” at closed-door meeting with congressional Republicans last month, though his defenders later suggested he was referring to crime or electoral concerns.
“I think a lot of people are very upset about the horrible stigma that Trump has placed on the city,” Jill McCurdy, a retired Democrat, said Thursday as she walked through Red Arrow Park, where hundreds of people had protested days earlier. “People who live here, especially people who have lived here their whole lives, certainly don’t see it that way.”
McCurdy, 68, said she hoped Republican visitors would come away with a positive view of the city, which sits along Lake Michigan about an hour’s drive north of Chicago, where the Democrats to hold convention next month.
But after speaking to friends who own restaurants and were “pretty disappointed” with business during the convention, she said she’s not sure the city benefited much from hosting the big GOP event.
Democrats need to do well in Milwaukee to counter Republican forces in more rural Wisconsin. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016 before losing it to President Joe Biden four years later by just 21,000 votes.
Wisconsin is one of the few true swing states that This election could go either way. and will determine who wins the White House. Four of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than one percentage point.
As Tyler Schmitt, 28, and his partner Ken Ragan, 24, stretched in the tall grass Wednesday in a park west of the convention site, they reflected on the pros and cons of Milwaukee’s hosting.
Ragan said she could do without the traffic hassles. But Schmitt, an urban farmer, said he sees some positives.
“From a small business perspective, it brings good tourism energy and good press,” he said. “It’s practically downtown, and I think downtown is appropriate.”
But the downtown location has still allowed law enforcement, including visiting officers from around the country, to hit Milwaukee’s streets. On Tuesday, officers from Columbus, Ohio, Samuel Sharpe was shot deada man who lived in a homeless encampment about a mile from the convention site.
Sharpe had a knife in each hand and walked toward another man, ignoring officers’ commands before shooting him, authorities said. The shooting remains under investigation.
Sharpe’s sister, Angelique Sharpe, blamed his death on the presence of outside agents.
“I would rather have the Milwaukee Police Department, who knows the people in this community, (than) people who have no connection to your community and don’t care about our extended family members there,” she said.
At a rally after her brother’s murder, Angelique Sharpe said her brother suffered from multiple sclerosis and was acting in self-defense against someone who had threatened him in recent days.
City activists also question whether the focus on the convention has downplayed more pressing systemic problems in Milwaukee.
Hours before Trump took the stage Thursday night to deliver his address to delegates, dozens of protesters held a rally a block from the convention site to draw attention to the deaths of Sharpe and another black man. D’Vontaye Mitchelldied last month after being arrested by security guards at a nearby hotel.
“They come here and make money off our city. But when we’re hurt and we need them, they’re not here,” said Karl Harris, Mitchell’s cousin.
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Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, and Jake Offenhartz in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
