The Midwest is having a moment

The Midwest is crucial in 2024

Both parties recognize the pivotal role of Midwestern states in the 2024 election, as evidenced by the locations of their respective conventions. Republicans gathered at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, and Democrats congregated about 90 miles south in Chicago’s United Center.

Illinois has been a solidly blue state since 1992, but Wisconsin and Michigan are two of the seven battleground states that will decide the election. Their combined 25 electoral votes are crucial for reaching the necessary 270, and their narrow margins in past elections make them competitive for both candidates.

On the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Harris and Walz took advantage of the proximity of Chicago to Milwaukee, packing Fiserv Forum with Democratic supporters and appearing at the DNC via video feed. The move underscored the Harris campaign’s determination not to underestimate the importance of Midwestern states like Wisconsin, which Hillary Clinton skipped over and lost to Donald Trump in 2016.

In their efforts to court working and middle-class voters, each has sought to delegitimize the other. Vance has attacked Walz’s military career, and Walz has joked that Vance can’t tell a runza, a regional specialty, apart from a Hot Pocket.

In an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Pete Buttigieg, one of the Democratic party’s most effective communicators and a Midwesterner himself, said that viewers of Walz and Vance’s upcoming vice presidential debate “will see a very different account of what it means to be a Midwesterner.”

The reign of a ‘Midwest Princess’

The overnight success of Chappell Roan‘s album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” has helped mainstream Midwestern narratives and aesthetics beyond politics.

Roan’s album, in which she sings about her Missouri upbringing and burgeoning queerness, has steadily climbed the Billboard Albums chart, reaching No. 2 behind Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” With seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100, she drew a record-breaking crowd of 110,000 at Lollapalooza in June.

When the Harris-Walz campaign debuted a camouflage hat, fans immediately highlighted the resemblance to Roan’s tour merchandise — a new point of reference for the kind of homespun aesthetic once largely limited to the aisles of Menards.

Her music even appeared at the Democratic National Convention when her home state of Missouri played “Good Luck, Babe!” during the roll call.

It’s yet another indication that “flyover country” is no more — at least until election day.