Trump rallies in Wisconsin's critical Democratic stronghold ahead of vice-presidential debate

U.S. elections 2024: Trump campaigns in Democratic stronghold Dane County, Wisconsin, ahead of vice-presidential debate, targeting Harris and Biden.

Former president Donald Trump spent more than an hour ahead of Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate campaigning in a Democratic county that is crucial to Kamala Harris ' hopes for winning the key battleground state of Wisconsin.

Republican Trump appeared at a manufacturing facility in Waunakee, a suburb of Wisconsin's capital city of Madison in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. Trump had never campaigned in Dane County nor visited as president.

In an event advertised as economic-themed, Trump bounced from subject to subject, also taking on Democratic nominee Harris on issues, including foreign policy, crime and immigration, while intermittently pivoting to criticism of outgoing President Joe Biden.

"I'm asking every citizen to join me in launching sort of a new golden age for America," Trump told hundreds inside Dane Manufacturing, a metal fabricator that has a long history of hosting Republican candidates and officeholders.

Trump also could not pass up a jab at former president Jimmy Carter on the Georgia Democrat's 100th birthday.

With hollow praise, Trump declared the one-term Carter "the happiest man" because he "is considered a brilliant president" compared to Biden. Trump did not note Carter's birthday, nor his status as the longest-living former president.

Later on Tuesday, Trump was to hold an event at a museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest city and home to the state's largest number of Democratic voters and second-largest number of Republicans. His appearance there was also meant to give him reach into the city's conservative suburbs, a part of Wisconsin where his support has softened but where he must do well to win.