President Biden will travel to Wisconsin on Wednesday, part of an effort to draw a contrast between a major investment in the state from Microsoft and the Foxconn investment in the area that never materialized during the Trump administration.
Biden will head to Racine to announce a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build a new artificial intelligence data center in the area. The project is expected to create 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs over time, the White House said.
The data center is set to be built on the same land where electronics giant Foxconn announced in 2017 it had planned to invest $10 billion in a facility that would create thousands of jobs. The Foxconn project was hailed as a major win for the Trump administration at the time but never materialized as promised.
Microsoft bought the land in April 2023 for $50 million.
Biden will use the Microsoft announcement Wednesday to highlight how his administration has focused on boosting domestic manufacturing and associated jobs. Biden has in recent weeks visited Syracuse, N.Y., and Arizona to tout investments from Micron and Intel, respectively.
In addition, Biden will meet with Black voters during a separate campaign stop in Wisconsin. The campaign said Wednesday’s event will be the first in a series of engagements during May intended to deepen outreach with groups who are critical to Biden’s coalition.
Biden’s campaign is also launching a $14 million paid media effort this week in battleground states focused on reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters.
Wednesday’s will be Biden’s fourth visit to Wisconsin of the year, underscoring its electoral importance. Biden won the state in 2020 by fewer than 21,000 votes, and polls show another close race in the Badger State this November between Biden and former President Trump.
A Decision Desk HQ average of polls in Wisconsin shows Trump leading Biden by 3 percentage points.