It was the evening of June 27 and Les Danielson was out milking the cows on his property in western Wisconsin when he heard something that alarmed him.
He was listening in to the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and it was not going well for the incumbent president.
It's hard to believe that was less than two months ago — an eternity in a presidential race that has few comparisons.
What the fourth-generation dairy and grain producer heard as he moved from the milking shed to the fields to cut some hay worried him.
"I would have had a hard time, after listening to the debate, voting for Biden," he said.
"I was shocked and disappointed."
If things hadn't turned out the way they did — with Biden eventually standing aside in favour of his vice-president, Kamala Harris — the 54-year-old doesn't know what he would have done come election day on November 5.
"I tend to vote Democratic. I have sometimes not, but tend to vote Democratic, especially on the national level," he said.
"But you have to run a candidate that's qualified, and the Democrats weren't."
Les thinks if Biden had stayed in the race, he might not have voted at all.
He's no fan of Trump, the Republican nominee, either.
But Les is now one of many Democratic-leaning voters energised by the dramatic turn of events that put Harris on the top of the ticket, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz chosen as her running mate.
"I really think we have an extremely strong ticket, a very energetic ticket, and a ticket that knows agriculture. So I'm really excited," he said.
The US election will likely be determined by a handful of swing states — among them, Wisconsin.
The Harris campaign overlooked far more famous Democrats for Walz, hoping his folksy charm and Midwestern sensibilities would play well in this crucial corner of the country.
'I'm very proud of who she picked'
Just a day after Harris announced Walz as her running mate on August 6, the new Democratic duo headed for a campaign rally in Eau Claire, a 20-minute drive from Les's property in Cadott.
Farmers are an important constituency in Wisconsin, and Les was invited to speak at the rally.
"My story is a Wisconsin story, one of hard work and perseverance, and that's why I'm glad and excited that Vice-President Harris's running mate is a lifelong Midwesterner," Les told the crowd.
The state is known as "America's Dairyland" and is a major producer of butter and cheese.
Les got to do the honours of introducing the man of the moment, Walz.
The 60-year-old bounded onto the stage, shaking Les's hands and waving at the audience.
Sixty is not exactly young, but he exuded energy, cracked a few jokes and made sure the crowd knew he was no stranger to these parts.
"Wow, hello Eau Claire! Isn't it good to have a candidate who can pronounce the name correctly," Walz said to the delighted crowd.
The crowd lapped it up, despite an hours-long wait in the summer heat that saw several faint and have to be carried off over the course of the afternoon.
Mike Vandenberg drove for about five hours from his home near the border of Minnesota and North Dakota to attend the event.
His T-shirt declares him a "proud Democrat" but this was his first political rally.
"I'm a huge supporter of my governor," he said.
"We're real proud of him. He's just a real down-to-earth Midwestern guy."
Staring out at the crowd, it does indeed feel like there are a lot of Tim Walzes: middle-aged white men in baseball caps and T-shirts.
Walz, it seems, is the Midwestern everyman, who can also appeal to women and younger Americans.
"I like the fact that he is for everything, from marijuana, to allowing women to control their own bodies," said Lynne Zimmerman, who attended the rally with her 17-year-old granddaughter Khia.
"We were all kind of depressed when Joe [Biden] was going downhill, and this just revitalised everything."
Maurice Hager, a Vietnam veteran and retired iron worker, likes the fact that Walz served for 24 years in the Army National Guard — a US military reservist force.
"He has done the walk, and being a veteran myself … I'm very proud of who she picked," he said.
Maurice thinks Harris and Walz together are a good combo.
"It's all about fun, and the other side is very sour," he said.
Why Democrats desperately want Wisconsin
Harris and Walz aren't exactly winning anyone over here. This is preaching to the converted.
It's a tightly controlled event attended by the party faithful, where Harris and Walz read from the teleprompter a speech almost identical to the one they gave the previous night in Philadelphia.
The hope is that these people will be fired up by the rally and motivated to get out and vote in a country where it's not compulsory. Ideally, they'll inspire a couple of people in their lives to vote as well.
In swing states, a few thousand votes can be decisive.
Trump took Wisconsin in 2016, beating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by almost 23,000 votes.
It was the first time a Republican had won the state in almost three decades.
But Biden won Wisconsin back for the Democrats in 2020 — by a margin of 20,000 votes.
Now officially a swing state, Wisconsin is predicted to be tight again in 2024.
"The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin," Harris told her supporters in July.
Recent polling shows her making up some of the ground Biden had begun to cede to Trump, putting her either in a dead heat with her opponent or even slightly ahead in several swing states, including Wisconsin.
Either way, any Democratic victory in Wisconsin will not be easy, with many Republican-leaning voters unswayed by the addition of Walz to the ticket.
Republicans know they need Wisconsin too
Scott Bischoff, an Eau Claire farmer, is a big fan of Trump.
He has several Trump pictures hanging up in his workshop, including one depicting the former president Rocky-style in boxing shorts.
The 55-year-old didn't initially warm to the businessman and reality TV star when he first announced he was running for the White House in 2015.
"When I seen him coming down the escalator, I was like, God, you know, this guy is a billionaire from New York … what is he going to care?"
Scott, who grew up in the 1980s, says he still lives like the 80s never ended.
He doesn't own a mobile phone or a computer, but he does have cable TV and gets his information from Fox News and, increasingly, from rival network Newsmax.
Scott likes what he sees there of Trump's 2024 campaign and he feels he was better off in Trump's first term.
"[He] got our corn prices up, our bean prices [up]," he said.
He blames the current administration for increases in the cost of living.
Scott has always voted Republican — his whole family does.
His brother carved and painted huge wooden letters spelling out Trump and mounted them above one of their fields.
Even when the corn is fully grown, you can see it as you drive past.
He hopes the chances of Trump winning again are "100 per cent".
Republicans are also targeting Wisconsin, hoping to turn the state from blue to red in November.
They held their convention in the state's biggest city, Milwaukee, in July.
And their vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, touched down at Eau Claire while Harris's plane was still on the tarmac.
Vance walked over briefly to make a show of inspecting the vice-president's aircraft, named Air Force Two.
"I just wanted to check out my future plane," he joked to reporters.
Both parties will be back again soon, with small-town America front and centre of the battle for the White House.
