Democratic congressional candidates — including incumbents — gathered in Platteville on Friday for the Grant County Democratic Party’s annual summer picnic, where talk was urgent but optimistic. The state is expected to play a decisive role in electing the next president. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., is in a race broadly considered a toss-up, with control of the Senate at stake. And first-term incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden — representing Grant County in the 3rd Congressional District — is considered among the nation’s most vulnerable in public polls. U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., also attended the event, despite Grant County being just outside his 2nd Congressional District. Because his district generally is considered safe, he said he would be spending a lot of time in the 3rd. Baldwin spent much of her speech focusing on her record supporting Democratic health care legislation, including the Affordable Care Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, contrasting those with stances taken by the Republican primary front-runner, businessman Eric Hovde.
