Wednesday, Sept. 4
WESTBY, Wis. – The White House announced on Wednesday that President Joe Biden will make an invitation only stop at Vernon Electric Cooperative (VEC) in Westby on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Although the stop not a campaign event it is coming just short of the November election and just a week after Donald Trump came to La Crosse.
Wisconsin is a critical swing state in the upcoming November election, and the 3rd Congressional District has been a notoriously purple district swinging from red to blue and back over the last few decades. Vernon County swung for Trump in the last two presidential elections. In 2020, the former president carried Vernon County with about 52% of the vote, winning 761 more votes than Biden.
Another factor in choosing this location for a stop may be that Democrats are focused on two other down ticket races that serve Westby and Vernon County. Rebecca Cooke is running to unseat first term Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden, and Tara Johnson is running against Republican incumbent Loren Oldenburg in the 96th Assembly District, where Wisconsin’s new electoral maps shifted that district from red to very blue. Democrats may see the first term Congressman Van Orden as vulnerable since he narrowly defeated Brad Pfaff and has been criticized by Democrats for being at the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Van Orden defeated Pfaff 52 percent (162,492) to 48 percent (149,794).
It is Biden’s first visit to the area since June 2021, when he spoke at La Crosse’s public transit center. His last visit to Wisconsin, was an early July campaign rally in the Madison area. The president visited Pittsburgh on Monday and will visit Ann Arbor, Michigan on Friday.
In a phone interview Wednesday evening Westby Mayor Danny Helgerson confirmed the stop will take place at VEC and said when he received the initial invitation he did not think it was real.
“When I got the initial invite that said they might come to Vernon County I ignored it because I thought it was spam,” said Helgerson. “Then the Police Chief got a contact from the Secret Service and then I knew it was real.”
When asked if anyone told him why the president’s staff chose Westby for the stop Helgerson said he has not been told much but believes the topic will be renewables and energy. Helgerson his community has been thriving in recent years and thinks the Biden plan is working.
“I know inflation is high but there are also jobs,” said Helgerson. “A lot of these minimum wage jobs are actually paying something now and there is construction going on everywhere. There is so much construction going on it is unbelievable. There are things getting built all over.”
Helgerson is also grateful for increased road funding with his main street finally getting revamped after years of delays. Helgerson said he tried for years to get the project done and now it is getting done.
“As many times as our project got kicked off the list,” said Helgerson. “It was supposed to be done in 2015 and then 2021 and then 2022. I don’t think if the state hadn’t gotten some help this might not have gotten done now. There are roads getting built all over this state.’
Helgerson also pointed to the activity in his recently built industrial park that was completed in 2022 with the help of $3.5 million from the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Helgerson said the park has already attracted a number of businesses and several more are in the planning stages. One of those businesses was LaX Fabricating that relocated some its production work to Westby with three news buildings, and more possibly on the way.
“They (LaX) went from not being able to find help in Spring Grove (Minn) to now having a waiting list (of applicants),” said Helgerson.
The White House said the stops in Wisconsin would be aimed at highlighting policies to lower prescription drug costs and encourage renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. Vernon Electric Cooperative would be a logical stop since the co-op has a number of solar projects in its service area as part of its energy portfolio, specifically community solar projects that allow members to purchase ownership of individual solar panels. Including the solar array right behind the cooperatives headquarters in Westby. VEC also recently completed Bluff Prairie Community Solar Project in Red Mound late last year in partnership with CouleeCap.
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