week one | SETTING THE SCENE IN A SWING STATE
In the months leading up to the November 2024 election, Ruthie spent months documenting the political environment in Wisconsin. This included attending campaign rallies across the state, attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and an exclusive chance to accompany former Vice President Kamala Harris on a visit to her childhood home in Madison. These photos were featured in the Capital Times throughout the campaign period in addition to being collected for a special exhibit at Carl-Schurz-Haus, a German-American democracy institute in Madison's sister city of Freiburg, Germany.
Along the way, Hauge highlighted the similarity of imagery between Democratic and Republican activities despite the staunch juxtaposition in ideology.
The exhibition of photos grew each week until Election Day, with Hauge providing the institute and Freiburg residents a near real-time look at the election across Wisconsin.
Joined by political reporter Erin McGroarty, Hauge traveled to Germany over Thanksgiving 2024 to present at the institute and nearby international school on their collective experience working as political journalists covering a historical presidential election in a key swing state. The exhibit was displayed on the walls of Carl-Schurz-Haus until Inauguration Day in January 2025.
Left: A homemade pro-Donald Trump/anti-Joe Biden sign is affixed to a street sign pointing to cheese and the town of Fayette, Wisconsin in January 2024. The phrase "Let's go Brandon" became a pro-Trump rallying cry against the media after an NBC reporter mistook the crowd's "F--- Joe Biden" chant for "Let's go Brandon" while interviewing winning NASCAR driver Brandon Brown.
Center: Wisconsin delegate Kathy Broghammer holds a “Bring Back Common Sense” Trump campaign sign during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July. Wisconsin Republicans wore Cheesehead hats in response to the Texas delegates wearing cowboy hats on previous nights of the convention.
Right: In March, for the first time in more than 50 years, Vice President Kamala Harris visits the Madison home where she and her family lived when she was a young child in the late 1960s. Harris’ parents worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the time.
Left: A supporter of former President Donald Trump sets his “Make America Great Again” hat on his knee while wiping sweat from his head during a rally in the summer heat at Waukesha County Expo Center.
Center: Spencer Nicholls, Liz Sullivan and Will Fry share a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the announcement of Trump’s guilty verdict at Square Wine in Madison on May 30, 2024. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. This was the first time in American history a former or current U.S. president was convicted of criminal charges.
Right: Trump holds his youngest grandchild, 4-year-old Carolina Trump, while she sleepily rubs her eyes on the last night of the Republican National Convention at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum in July. Trump wore a bandage on his right ear after being grazed by a bullet during an assassination attempt five days prior.
week two | THE LEFT & THE RIGHT
Left: LGBTQ-identifying union member Tara Wood-Taylor wears a customized Cheesehead hat in support of Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in Madison in September.
Right: Wisconsin delegate Barbara Bittner wears a Cheesehead in support of former President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee in July.
Left: A supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris wears a miniature American flag attached to a hat with a “,La” button — short for Kamala — at a Harris rally at Ripon College in October.
Right: At the July Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, an Illinois delegate wears an American flag patch over his ear in solidarity with Donald Trump. Trump’s ear was wounded in an assassination attempt just two days prior to the start of the RNC, causing him to wear a bandage over the wound that week.
Left: Supporters of Kamala Harris cheer and take photos and videos as she enters a campaign rally while the song “Freedom” by Beyoncé plays at Alliant Energy Center in Madison in September.
Right: Supporters of Donald Trump cheer and take photos and videos as he takes the stage at a campaign rally in Waunakee in October. The 1978 hit song “Macho Man,” by the Village People, was played multiple times while attendees waited for Trump to enter.
Left: “Childless cat ladies unite!” is displayed on the WomenRoar24 truck near a campaign rally for Kamala Harris in Ripon in October. The phrase refers to Republican Vice President-elect JD Vance’s 2021 Fox News interview, in which he said the U.S. was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too." The phrase became a tool to rebuke Vance’s criticism of people without children.
Right: A Jeep Wrangler, fitted with flags, parks near a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Waunakee in October. The two pictured rallies were held within two days of each other.
Left: Kamala Harris smiles in reaction to extended cheers from her supporters at a campaign rally in Madison in September.
Right: Donald Trump stands still with a stern expression on his face during extended cheers from his supporters at a campaign rally in Waunakee in October.
Left: A shirt displayed on a merchandise table reads, “Chucks and pearls will change the world 2024” outside of a Kamala Harris campaign rally at Ripon College in October.
Right: A Donald Trump shirt displayed on a merchandise table reads, “I’m voting for the convicted felon” at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.
Left: A line of Harris supporters hoping to enter her October campaign rally at Ripon College stretches down multiple city blocks.
Right: A line of Trump supporters hoping to enter his Waunakee campaign rally in October zigzags across sidewalks and the lawn of Dane Manufacturing in October. The attendance for rallies on both sides of the political spectrum were a point of pride and contention.
Left: Davida Randolph cuddles her 8-year-old daughter, Vada Randolph, as Kamala Harris speaks about women’s rights at a campaign rally in Madison in September. If elected, Harris would have been the first female president in U.S. history.
Right: A mother watches her daughter applaud for Donald Trump as he speaks at an October campaign rally at Dane Manufacturing in Waunakee.
week three | TOO MUCH
Many people in Wisconsin noticed an increased number of warring campaign signs displayed throughout their towns. Often, a sign placed for a political party or candidate on one property would prompt a neighbor to respond by putting up a sign for the opposite party or candidate nearby.
Campaign mailers come from both the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as from groups encouraging high voter turnout. The Republican Party seemed to been targeting residential mailboxes in liberal areas, such as Dane County, more than in the past.
Green Bay Packers football fans ignore campaign ads and other halftime commercials at Parkside Pub in McFarland in early October. Political advertising tracking firm AdImpact projected a record $10.2 billion would be spent on political ads in 2024.
Cap Times photo director Ruthie Hauge saved campaign text messages soliciting donations from over 115 phone numbers. Screenshots of the messages, sent between Nov. 6, 2023 and Oct. 14, 2024, were compiled together to create one long receipt.
week four | GRASSROOTS EFFORTS
Left: An absentee ballot is deposited into a municipal dropbox in McFarland eight days before the Nov. 5 election. Early voting was encouraged by both major political parties. Multiple ballot boxes were set on fire with incendiary devices in Washington and Oregon the week prior to the election.
Center: A get out the vote event focused on Indigenous voters is held at Menominee Indian High School in Keshena, on the Menominee Reservation, 10 days before the election. “Skoden” is Native slang for “Let’s go then.” “Vote” was added to the phrase to appeal to young voters.
Right: Nine-year-old Cleo Zapala-Voss holds a reproductive rights placard at a Harris-Walz campaign event featuring remarks by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York.
Left: Christy and TJ Johnson shop for Donald Trump merchandise with volunteer Susan Horner at the Republican Party of Door County office in Sturgeon Bay. The Associated Press photo by Evan Vucci, printed on the center shirt, became a visual battle cry for Trump and his supporters even though use of the image had not been authorized by the copyright owners.
Center: An independent voter, turned Democrat, wears patriotic shoes and humorous election socks to a meeting and potluck dinner for the Democratic Party of Sauk County less than three weeks before Election Day.
Right: Linda Krahn, a volunteer for the Jackson County Democratic Party, hand-writes postcards to voters at the party office in Black River Falls.
Left: At an early semester gathering, University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Democrats burn the state’s old legislative maps, which were redrawn to eliminate Republican gerrymandering.
Center: A 43-foot-tall nude statue of former President Donald Trump is displayed for two days along Pennsylvania Avenue in Madison. The mobile statue was displayed in various U.S. swing states.
Right: In line to enter a rally for Vice President-elect JD Vance, a Trump supporter wears a shirt depicting the former president giving two middle fingers. The phrase “One for each miss" refers to the two recent assassination attempts on Trump’s life. Two Catholic women in line behind this supporter were appalled by the obscene nature of the shirt.
Left: On the University of Wisconsin-Madison Library Mall, JoAnn Maxey stops sophomore Chase Tilson to discuss voting for Democrats down the ballot. Maxey traveled from Arkansas and told The Cap Times, “It is so important to us to pull a win for (Vice President Kamala) Harris and (vice presidential candidate Tim) Walz. I want to go somewhere meaningful. Wisconsin is so important.”
Center: A DeForest household shows strong support for Donald Trump and QAnon.
Right: Democrats gather at Minoqua Brewing Taproom in Madison to watch the vice presidential debate on a large screen while drinking beverages with liberal names like “MAGA Tears.”
The Harris-Walz campaign spent the last week before the Nov. 5 election bringing out as many celebrities and high-level politicians as they could for concerts and rallies in swing states. In addition to those who came to Wisconsin and are pictured above, actresses and musicians such as Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Kerry Washington, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Oprah, Maggie Rogers and Jennifer Garner joined Harris on the campaign trail in October and November. Clockwise from upper left are rapper Cardi B, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, rapper GloRilla, social influencers Nemo and Ava Ernst, rapper MC Lyte, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, former President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, musicians Remi Wolf, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner from the band The National, Mumford & Sons, former President Bill Clinton, rapper Flo Milli, actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key, actor Bradley Whitford and singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. Center left is Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and center right is Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Trump-Vance campaign presents a familiar cast of characters, including former WWE star Hulk Hogan and musician Kid Rock, during the last rallies of the election cycle. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was vying for the presidency, stumped for Donald Trump, who has since nominated Kennedy for U.S. health and human services secretary. Pictured in the top row, left to right, are Kennedy, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (now nominated for director of national intelligence) and Trump. Bottom row, left to right, are now Vice President-elect JD Vance, Hogan and Kid Rock.
week six | ELECTION DAY
Left: A dog named Tike — with his fur dyed red, white and blue — walks past the polling place at Chazen Museum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Election Day. Tike’s owner said the dog was dressed to look like a Bomb Pop ice treat.
Center: Voters cast ballots at Hillel at UW-Madison on Election Day.
Right: Marty Boyer, a Sacramento-based volunteer for the campaign of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, reacts to election return updates during the Baldwin and Wisconsin Democratic Party election night watch party at Orpheum Theater in Madison. Baldwin, a Madison Democrat, went on to win re-election to the Senate.