One voted Biden. One picked Trump. It's a tale of two counties in pivotal Wisconsin

On a recent Tuesday morning in Portage, Wis., Sharon Wade tended to her craft and antique furnishing shop. Standing in front of a wall lined with color-coded paints, she helped a friend find the correct tools to spruce up an old dresser.

"You're going to be fine, Sandy! I promise you," Wade laughed, as she unwrapped a new paintbrush. "You know you can call me if you need to."

Her store sits within Columbia County, a county less than an hour outside of Madison. Despite some loyal customers, Wade said business has slowed over the past year.

"It's been difficult to see people come in, that were regulars before that bought, and now they just come in to look," she said, addressing rising prices in town. "I don't blame them, you get in that situation where you have to buy things that you need, not necessarily what you want."

Protecting her business drives her vote. After supporting former President Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012, she then backed former President Donald Trump twice in 2016 and 2020. Now, she plans to vote for President Biden, arguing Trump's legal woes are a deal breaker for her.

"I just feel like there's so much going on with his life that how can he focus on our country," she said. "We need someone who's going to be dedicated to what's happening for us."

Wade's voting history mirrors Columbia County — known as a pivot county — one of several in the state that voted twice for Obama and then flipped to Trump in 2016.

In 2020, Trump won Columbia by just under two percentage points. But in neighboring Sauk County, he lost by about the same margin.

Both counties — made up of midsize towns and rural areas outside the capital city — may be potential indicators of which candidate could win the state this year.