Wisconsin Republicans, Democrats spin the debate ahead of tonight's Harris-Trump face-off

MADISON — Ahead of the first and only scheduled debate between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, the heads of Wisconsin's political parties are seeking to tie the candidates to unpopular figures and platforms.

From the right, Republicans are linking Harris to President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race in July. And from the left, Democrats are tying Trump to Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation.

"We're going to show this country and ourselves what we've got in the state of Wisconsin: a belief in freedom, a belief in democracy and decency, a belief in an economy that works for working people, where everyone can not just get by, but get ahead. That's our game plan," Democratic Party of Wisconsin chairman Ben Wikler told reporters at a news conference on Monday.

Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming dismissed the "Project 2025" attacks and told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he hadn't heard about it from voters until Democrats brought it up.

"They're trying to create an issue" to attach to Trump, he said, while "they want everybody to forget" that Harris has served as Biden's vice president since 2020.

"For me, I think, number one, I'm watching to see which Kamala Harris shows up," Schimming said. "I think the bar is higher for her at the debate, because she has to finesse the Biden-Harris record versus where she says she wants to go. … She's finally going to have to answer questions, and this will be essentially the first time since the (Democratic National Convention) that she's had to do that."

Schimming argued Harris has to run against two opponents: Trump and Biden.

"She's not going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat. She's going to pull, like 10 rabbits to make that work," he said.

In the debate, Wikler said, voters will hear "a real contrast … between one person fighting for freedom and for middle-class families like the one that (Harris) grew up in, and one person that wants to hand out trillions of dollars to billionaires to help people like himself and wants to become a dictator.:"

Wikler said it will take "constant organizing in every corner of the state in order to win, potentially just by a fraction of a percentage point."

"At this point, 50,000 people have signed up to volunteer since Harris became the nominee, in Wisconsin alone. That's more than twice as much as the margin of victory for Trump in 2016 or Biden in 2020," Wikler said. "So from here on out, it is about rolling up our sleeves … and getting to work, going out and talking to voters about the issues that matter the most to them in communities, small and large. We're organizing in every ZIP code this year, and that is how we win."

Schimming, on the other hand, pointed out a New York Times/Siena College survey that found 28% of likely voters said they needed to know more about Harris to form an opinion, while only 9% said the same of Trump.

"I think the bar is higher for her at the debate because she has to finesse the Biden-Harris record versus where she says she wants to go," Schimming said.

On Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 8 p.m. Central Time, USA TODAY Network will stream The ABC News Presidential Debate Simulcast on the USA TODAY channel, available on most smart televisions and devices.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Dems, GOP spin the debate ahead of Harris-Trump face-off