CHICAGO, Ill. — Surprise visits from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker kicked off Wednesday’s Wisconsin delegate breakfast.
“And now Wisconsin, it’s your turn!” said Sen. Booker.
Longtime friends Suzanne Arnold and Bob Cole made the trip from Walworth County to get in on the action.
“We work together, just like this. We work together and we’re winning,” said Cole.
Arnold says her road to the Democratic Party was quite the journey, growing up in a staunch Republican household.
“I literally drank Goldwater pop as a kid. But as they grew older, they realized they were actually very liberal in terms of social norms, so it kind of turned me into someone who wanted to help other people,” said Arnold.
Watch: Democratic stars surprise Wisconsin delegates on Day 3 of DNC:
After moving to Chicago for 20 years, Arnold and her partner returned to Williams Bay and faced old challenges.
“It was very different. It was almost like going back into the closet,” said Arnold.
Rather than sit back, Arnold says she chose to push her friends and neighbors to consider how their words and actions truly made an impact.
“My question is, ‘You love Joanne and I, do you really want to do that to us?’ And then they have to think about it. ‘Well, yeah, I didn’t think about all those other repercussions. I just always voted Republican.’ So now we’re changing minds, I hope,” said Arnold.
Cole says the joy he feels helping change perspectives in Elkhorn drives him to keep fighting.
“And I want [Harris] to do what she wants to do: straighten the world out, straighten us out. That’s all I want,” said Cole.
