Sarah Hauer

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke is feeling out what is going to be a winning message in Wisconsin to win the Democratic nomination from a growing, and competitive, field.

While meeting Sunday with members of Emerge Wisconsin, a group that prepares women to run for office, O'Rourke said he's called Sen.Tammy Baldwin to talk about her experience as a politician in the state. She won her race this fall decidedly by nearly 11 percentage points.

His advice to the women was to talk with politicians who have "been there before."

O'Rourke launched his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president Thursday with a video. O'Rourke, a former three-term Democratic congressman from El Paso, became a national figure in 2018 by mounting a strong but ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

"I want Wisconsin to know that I'm here — that I spent the fourth day of my campaign in Madison, in Johnson Creek and here today in Milwaukee," O'Rourke said. "I'm listening to those who I wish to serve, learning from them and I'm going to come back, repeatedly."

His Sunday trip to Wisconsin marked O'Rourke's second visit to the state this year. He's the first Democratic presidential candidate to appear in the state after Monday's announcement that Milwaukee will host the party's 2020 national convention. Besides O'Rourke, Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the other Democratic presidential contender to already appear in the state.

Democrats are targeting Wisconsin, which went to President Donald Trump in 2016. That year, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton failed to campaign in the state during the general election, a move that still rankles local party activists. Wisconsin's Democratic primary won't be held until early April 2020.

O'Rourke said he believes Baldwin will try to help all Democratic nominees win her state.

Wisconsin is O'Rourke's second stop since launching his campaign. He started in Iowa with a three-day trip before spending Sunday in Madison and Milwaukee.

O'Rourke mentioned asking Baldwin about one issue in particular: the crisis facing the state's dairy farmers with falling milk prices. Multiple times in Milwaukee on Sunday, O'Rourke brought up the dairy industry.

"Knowing that we lose more than a dairy farm a day in Wisconsin — knowing the negative impact that trade wars and tariffs have had in this state, in Iowa where I just was, in my home state of Texas, we need trade policy that matches our economic interests and ensure that everyone has a chance to participate in this economy," O'Rourke said.

O'Rourke said he didn't know enough about the state's deal with Taiwanese technology company Foxconn and turned his answer toward trade deals and the plight of dairies.

He said he wants trade policy to "prioritize American workers" and "ensure that they're not put at a competitive disadvantage from other workers in other countries."

"Our capitalism needs to be improved," O'Rourke said. "It’ll help our democracy and it begins with universal health care, paying a living wage and making sure that people, not corporations and special interests, are represented in our politics."

O'Rourke spent a very Wisconsin day in the state, starting with breakfast at The Old Fashioned restaurant in Madison with U.S. Rep Mark Pocan, D-Wis. He followed with a couple of hundred people for a meet and greet at Cargo Coffee.

The Texan even tweeted that he ate at Culver's for lunch.

In Milwaukee, he met with the women from Emerge Wisconsin and then members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 494 at their office.

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On his previous visit to the state, O'Rourke visited with students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Milwaukee Area Technical College on Feb. 15. Those visits were part of O'Rourke's conversations with voters across the country before launching his presidential bid.

Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel contributed.

Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.