In a town Biden won by 19 votes, debate stirs doubts he can win again this year

Cedarburg, Wisconsin CNN —

Lisa Reissmann had to stop watching.

“He didn’t seem as strong as what he has been in the past,” she said of President Joe Biden’s performance last month at the CNN debate. “I was really having a hard time watching it. Because he did seem a little off.”

Her husband, fellow Biden voter Troy Reissmann, hung in to the debate’s end, reaching for the phone during former President Donald Trump’s closing statement.

“Yeah, it was definitely scary,” Troy Reissmann said of Biden’s performance. “The first people that I called were my parents, who are really old. And I said, ‘What did you guys think about that?’ Because I still know where I’m going to vote, where my vote is going to lie. But they don’t. And they were equally as scared.”

The Reissmanns own the Shinery, a moonshine bar in Cedarburg, a small, picturesque city about 30 minutes north of Milwaukee. What were once textile mills are now bars, restaurants, inns and art galleries. Local after local talks about living in a real-life Hallmark movie or a Norman Rockwell painting.

The Reissmanns — civil, affable and politically minded — have a message for the candidate they both supported in 2020.

“Think of the future. Think of our kids and grandkids,” Troy Reissmann said. “Maybe you should step aside only because there’s — the future doesn’t look too bright with the other side taking over. And maybe I’m wrong, and I hope I would be, but you know, it’s scary.”

Lisa Reissmann agreed. “I think it is time. We just need fresh leadership, new leadership. … I like Joe Biden as a person, you know. I think he stands for good things. But I am just not sure he’s there anymore to lead the country.”

The Reissmanns — and Cedarburg — are now part of