Mitchell Berman’s ads sell him as the rural Wisconsin sportsman. He stands by a truck loaded with gun cases and shells while his kids ride ATVs. He holds a shotgun in yellow shooting glasses and declares Wisconsin is not for sale. In another spot he shows off his Glock 43X, explaining that rural folks carry a sidearm for coyotes and the odd mountain lion on the trail camera. No actual Republican has to make these weird appeals to guns and conservative culture in such a contrived way. It comes off as incredibly out of touch and cringe.
On top of that, the NRA also noticed this gun cosplay and decided to call it out. In a X clip, Berman claimed to be pro-2nd Amendment, but also mentioned support for red flag laws and banning “high-capacity magazines.” Most voters are smart enough to see past the costume, but if there were any doubt about where he stood on guns, this cleared it up.
While Berman attempts this weird retail politics move, the district already has a normal guy. Bryan Steil has represented Wisconsin’s First Congressional District since 2019. Berman is the latest Democrat trying to flip it by dressing the part more than previous challengers. The strategy is simple. Package the candidate as a sportsman and working-class nurse so voters in Racine, Kenosha, and the rural corners overlook the rest.
We have seen this before across the country. Graham Platner was the Maine prototype. The oyster farmer who shucked shellfish on camera and talked working-class values. The farm made little money and he largely lived on veteran’s disability benefits. Then the rest surfaced: old Reddit posts calling rural white Americans stupid and racist, a tattoo resembling a Nazi Totenkopf, sexually explicit texts outside his marriage, and a sexual assault allegation from a former girlfriend. He denied the claim, said he was reflecting, and suspended the campaign. The persona worked for the launch video while the record did not.
Berman carries less personal scandal. Democrats appear to have decided the optics alone will do. Hold the shotgun, talk about the Glock, and keep the platform in the background. The national machine supplies the money and the polling. The candidate supplies the freshly bought flannel.
The record that does not fit the ads is the 2023 Raymond School incident. After dropping his kindergarten daughter off, Berman went to the office and demanded public records. The superintendent had him escorted out. The school went into a multi-day modified soft lockdown. Visitors were barred, outdoor recess restricted, bathroom breaks scheduled in groups. It coincided with anonymous threats against board members and a mailed threat that reached the superintendent’s family. This is the same man now running ads about protecting Wisconsin values.
On money, Berman says he rejects corporate PAC donations. The DCCC added him to Red to Blue and the House Majority PAC is active. Steil entered late summer with millions more cash on hand, but the national apparatus is treating the seat as competitive because it wants the seat.
Steil has a congressional record. Berman has ads and a school confrontation that put the building on lockdown. One is the actual representative and public servant. The other is the latest attempt to treat a Democrat with a hunting photo as interchangeable with the Republican who has held the seat. People hunt and carry firearms because that is life here, not because a consultant decided the imagery would test well. Democrats think the cosplay is the strategy, but this has rejected similar pitches before.
