Wisconsin reaffirmed its battleground status, becoming the first state in the "blue wall" to flip for Trump Tuesday night, effectively securing his path to becoming the 47th President of the United States. Despite polls showing a tight race, Trump led Harris by about 30,000 votes, or less than 1% (49.6% to 48.8%), marking a wider margin than his 2016 win in the state. Although Harris had a financial edge and strong field operations, voter concerns about the economy and Harris underperforming with minority and young voters ultimately helped Trump, who garnered more total votes than he did in 2016.

In a similarly close contest, incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin narrowly defeated Eric Hovde by just over 27,000 votes, securing her seat for another six years. For the first time since 1968, Wisconsin voters split their choices, electing a U.S. Senator from a different party than their presidential pick. Despite Baldwin’s win, Republicans gained control of the U.S. Senate, unseating several Democratic incumbents. All U.S House of Representative incumbents Wisconsin’s delegation won their re-elects, while Republican candidate Tony Wied easily defeated Democrat Kristen Lyerly to win the open 8th District in northeast Wisconsin. Control of the U.S. House of Representatives still remains up in the air with Republicans currently holding a slight lead to maintain control and giving the 47th President-elect a Republican Congress.

Read the full article here.

President Donald Trump will be returning to the White House. This is mainly due to the fact that Vice President Harris significantly underperformed in Democratic strongholds compared to President Biden in 2020 and President-elect Trump improved his performance. This holds true for Illinois. For example:

1. Margin of victory: Harris only defeated Trump by 8 points in Illinois. This is significantly smaller than Biden’s 17-point victory in 2020.

1. Chicago results: In Chicago, Harris secured 76% of the city’s vote to Trump’s 22%. While still a strong performance, this is lower than Biden’s 82% in the city in 2020.

1. Overall performance and historical context: This marks the closest presidential election in Illinois since 1988. It represents a significant tightening of the race compared to recent elections where Democrats won the state by double-digits.

All of the aforementioned facts appear to have greatly impacted down ballot races in Illinois. Prior to the election, Democrats expected to expand their supermajority in the House by at least two seats with some prognosticators believing that 4 seats were within reach. Despite outspending Republicans by a margin of 9 to 1 in most races, neither expectation materialized. It should also be noted that the district maps which were re-drawn in 2020 are largely maxed out in terms of what Democrats can be expected to accomplish—barring any major developments. The Democrats did not pick up any seats and their strong supermajority will remain at 78 seats in the House and 40 in the Senate.

Read the full article here.

Our annual meeting is set for December 17 at 8:30 a.m. and will be held virtually.

To ensure a seamless experience for everyone, please confirm your attendance by December 13 to Jody, jodyk@midwesthardware.com. The meeting link will be sent out December 16, allowing us to optimize the platform based on the number of attendees.

When our customers face natural disaster, damage or temporary closure, we are committed to helping them recover.

Our process when a natural disaster occurs

Elavon reviews zip codes in federally designated disaster areas, and for a period of time, we monitor the payment processing activity of customers located in the impact zones.

We attempt to contact customers that have not presented any transactions during this time of monitoring. Even if they are unreachable, as long as we don’t see any processing activity, we temporarily disable their monthly fees. We re-establish their current contract fees after a 90-day period for customer accounts that become active again.

We also offer customers with weather-damaged equipment a free swap to help them get back to business as soon as possible. Plus, if there is any impact to processing services, customers can check the Elavon Status Site for service updates.

U.S. Bank hurricane response

In the wake of recent hurricane impact in the Southeast, U.S. Bank has activated its ATM network across the country to accept donations to the American Red Cross and more. Read the blog post

Gift cards account for half* of planned consumer holiday spend according to industry research. Now is the time to ensure you are fully stocked with gift cards so you don’t run out during the last push of the holiday season. The following 2024 schedule lists upcoming order placement and proofing deadlines.

Please note that the deadlines were established to allow sufficient time for the artwork proofs to be prepared and approved. Every order during this time period is considered a rush order, so production schedules cannot be modified. Please ensure the proper expectations are set regarding card delivery times.

• These dates include a two-day shipping delivery timeframe, holidays and UPS delivery schedules. 
• Any special features such as PIN numbers, scratch-off panels or custom hang-tag carriers would add additional time to the order production. 

These dates cover both standard and custom orders.