After 18 years in business, Erin Klaus is closing her storefront, a handmade artisan market in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at the end of the year.
asserted
Klaus → close → year
She opened Tangled Up in Hue amid a recession, during a time when downtown was “kind of a ghost town”, weathering construction and the pandemic.
asserted
downtown → open → construction
But the current economic crisis proved too much.
asserted
crisis → prove → ?
She’s seen a downward trend in sales for two years, and was dipping into her own pocket from her other job, as the executive director of business non-profit Downtown Eau Claire Inc, to pay staff.
asserted
She → see → staff
“This is the first time it’s out of my control to save my business,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → business
“It just feels so desperate right now for a lot of our small business owners …
asserted
It → feel → owners
From the tariff wars to inflation to cost of living to healthcare, I mean, honestly, there’s no money left in the bucket at the end of the day for regular folks and, unfortunately, that means our regular folks who run businesses, too, are just not able to kind of hang on any longer.
asserted
who → mean → businesses
These economic woes feature heavily in the toss-up race for the US House of Representatives in western Wisconsin’s third district, where Eau Claire is located.
asserted
Claire → feature → district
Republican incumbent Derrick Van Orden has stuck closely to Donald Trump and defended the administration’s record, while Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke is making a third run at the seat by tapping into, and commiserating with, economic despair among working people, farmers and business owners.
asserted
Cooke → stick → people
Communities like Eau Claire are losing small businesses as people are getting pinched financially and don’t have the extra funds to spend, even if they wanted to, she said.
asserted
she → lose → funds
The culture of consumerism changed during the pandemic as well, with people wanting quick, online options.
asserted
people → change → options
Tariffs on, in her case, T-shirts, forced her to eat the added cost.
asserted
Tariffs → force → cost
Healthcare subsidies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace weren’t extended.
asserted
subsidies → extend → marketplace
A paid parking program downtown felt like the final straw.
asserted
program → pay → straw
She knows she’s not alone among small business owners.
asserted
she → know → owners
The messages coming from the Trump administration seem to insist that these economic conditions aren’t happening, or aren’t affecting people like her, to the degree they are, Klaus said.
asserted
Klaus → come → degree
It feels “almost like we’re getting mocked for the hardships that we’re enduring”.
asserted
we → feel → that
Other small business owners in the district say they’re struggling, too.
asserted
they → say → district
Amy Burke Lepper, the owner of One Of A Kind Interior Design in Chippewa Falls, has worked with a cabinet maker in Canada for more than two decades, and now those cabinets have added tariffs.
asserted
cabinets → work → tariffs
A couple of her clients have put off building homes because of costs right now, she said.
asserted
she → put → costs
She has no health insurance for the first time in her life because the cost rose from over $1,000 per month for her and her husband to nearly $3,000.
asserted
cost → have → 3,000
She doesn’t plan to close her business but she decided to speak out about the struggles she’s facing so that people understand how federal policies are affecting small businesses like hers.
asserted
policies → plan → hers
“I’m one person, and I know this is affecting everybody else and waking people up to the fact that, you don’t understand that’s why your prices are higher.
asserted
prices → ’m → fact
It’s because of these things.
asserted
It → ’ → things
It’s not a magic thing,” Burke Lepper said.
asserted
Lepper → ’ → ?
As weeks and months of campaigning have given way to the final days and hours before Tuesday’s US midterm elections, rising prices and affordability have created competitive races in unexpected places.
asserted
prices → give → places
Democrats and independents have found a lane in rural areas stretched thin by gas costs, fertilizer increases, tariffs and healthcare cuts, though the third district was always expected to be competitive.
asserted
district → find → costs
Before Van Orden’s win in 2022, Democrat Ron Kind had represented the district for more than 20 years.
asserted
Kind → represent → years
The district, made up of mostly rural and suburban areas, backed Barack Obama twice, then Trump three times, but also sometimes for Democrats elsewhere on the ballot.
asserted
district → make → ballot
Tens of millions of dollars in outside spending has poured into the race from both sides.
asserted
millions → pour → sides
Trump administration officials have traveled multiple times to the third district in Wisconsin to defend their records.
asserted
officials → travel → records
Trump has told his supporters to pretend he is on the ballot this year.
asserted
he → tell → ballot
Van Orden has defended the Iran war, calling it necessary, though acknowledging it is making it “exponentially harder for Republicans to hold the House and the Senate”.
asserted
Republicans → defend → House
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, rallied with Van Orden this week, saying he is “one of our fighters”.
asserted
he → rally → fighters
Van Orden, responding to a reporter, said he hasn’t shied away from his support of Trump.
asserted
he → respond → Trump
He has been an ardent Trump supporter, including attending the January 6 rally at the US Capitol in 2021.
asserted
He → include → 2021
“At some point, we have to look at accomplishments and put aside the emotional sway,” Van Orden told WISN 12 News.
asserted
Orden → have → News
“Donald Trump won this district three times in a row, with increasing margins every single time.
asserted
Trump → win → margins
The things that he’s been able to accomplish with a Republican-controlled congress is absolutely amazing.”
asserted
he → accomplish → congress
Van Orden, a retired Navy Seal, refers to his opponent, Cooke, as “The Crooked One”, claiming she isn’t who she says she is.
asserted
she → refer → One
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
