Hope KarnoppUSA TODAY NETWORK
LA CROSSE, Wisc. - In a departure from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's typical rallies, where he often speaks for an hour or more, Trump's town hall in the 2024 battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday night lasted a little over 30 minutes.
The former GOP president fielded about six questions on topics such as national security, inflation, immigration and his support for in vitro fertilization. He took questions from pre-selected attendees.
Here are the takeaways from Trump's town hall event.
Trump's IVF announcement takes center stage
The first question came from former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who moderated the town hall. Trump announced earlier Thursday that he wants government or insurers to fully cover the costs of IVF treatment.
Gabbard said she struggled with becoming pregnant and that IVF "seemed to be the only option and the last resort." Trump said he supports IVF and told his campaign he "wanted to look at this a few weeks ago."
"It's really worked out well for a lot of people, it gave them a child when they would not have had a child," Trump said. "Government is going to pay for it, or we're going to mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great."
Young voter asks a question on inflation
Inflation, the third question of the night, was asked by a student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who said he notices higher grocery and gas prices and it seems impossible for him to own a home.
Trump said the U.S. needs to become "the energy capital of the world" and "pay down our debt," but offered few specifics for his economic plans.
"Your groceries are going to come tumbling down, and your interest rates are going to come tumbling down, and then ... you're going to buy a beautiful house. That's the American dream," Trump said.
In a Marquette University Law School poll released earlier this month, registered voters in Wisconsin ranked the economy their top concern, with 38% considering it their most important issue when deciding who to vote for. Abortion policy followed at 14%, and immigration and border security at 13%.
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Wisconsin voters also thought Trump would do a better job at handling the economy, with 51% choosing him and 39% saying Vice President Kamala Harris would do a better job.
Harris has a slight improvement over President Joe Biden in that area. In the last Marquette poll before Biden dropped out of the race, 52% thought Trump would handle the economy better and 34% said Biden would.
More: Scott Walker said college voters’ top issue is the economy, not abortion. Is he right?
Democrats contrast their economic plans
At a news conference before Trump's town hall, Democrats targeted him on issues like abortion access, infrastructure funding and Project 2025, a conservative agenda that his campaign has tried to distance itself from.
But they clearly anticipated the economy would be a top issue Thursday night and highlighted Harris' own economic plans. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez said Harris is the "only one in this race to put forward a plan that would actually lower costs for working families."
Harrisunveiled parts of her economic planearlier this month,including up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, a $6,000 tax credit for families with newborns, and a federal ban on price gougingof food and groceries. Trump called the latter "a communist plan."
"The contrast this November could not be more clear. Only Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz are championing the opportunity economy for all Americans. Whether you live in small towns or rural places or big cities, all Americans have a chance to compete and to succeed," Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said.
Trump calls Tim Walz 'weird'
Responding to a question about crime from an attendee from Minnesota, Trump began by calling Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz "a weird guy, a weird dude."
"He is weird, I'm not weird," Trump said and defended his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance. "I mean, we're a lot of things, we're not weird."
Even before he was named Harris' running mate, Walz gained traction among Democrats for often calling Trump and Vance "weird" in television interviews.
Town hall lasts only about a half hour
Trump took about six questions, two of them from Gabbard and four from selected attendees.
The town hall lasted about a half hour. Trump often speaks at rallies for over an hour, and his speech at the Republican National Convention was 92 minutes long. (Campaign staffers later said the event was cut short because of an incoming storm.)
Trump often started answering the questions on-topic, then went on tangents. For example, Trump answered a question about inflation but went into false claims of election fraud and talked about nuclear power. During the first question about IVF, Trump spent part of it talking about immigration.
Some of the biggest applause came when Trump attacked Harris, including criticizing her for filming a prerecorded interview with CNN on Thursday. "Why are we doing it live, and she's doing it taped?" Trump told the crowd, though Harris and Walz's interview was unscripted.
La Crosse County went blue in last two elections
Trump has held three rallies in Wisconsin this year: in Green Bay, Waukesha and Racine. But it was his first time in western Wisconsin in 2024, and he held the event in a county he's lost twice.
La Crosse County voted bluein 2020, with about 56% of the vote going to Biden and 42% to Trump. Eau Claire County is the only other county in that part of the state that voted blue in the last election. Both are home to University of Wisconsin campuses.
Trump's outcome was about the same as in 2016, when he received about 41% of the vote in La Crosse County. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton took 51% of the vote there.
La Crosse is in Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District, one of the most competitive seats in Wisconsin. Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden will face Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke, whoadvanced from a heated primary on Aug. 13.
