Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) attracted a Republican challenger for her Wisconsin Senate seat on Tuesday after Eric Hovde launched a campaign website introducing himself to voters.
Hovde, a real estate and bank CEO who first ran for Baldwin’s seat in 2012, announced he would mount a second run in a 30-second ad calling for “commonsense solutions to restore America.”
“Our country is facing enormous challenges: our economy, our healthcare, crime, and open borders. Everything is going in the wrong direction,” Hovde said.
“All Washington does is divide us and talk about who’s to blame, and nothing gets done,” he added. “That’s not the country I know and love.”
The Wisconsin Senate race is expected to be one of the most competitive of the 2024 cycle, yet Republicans initially had trouble recruiting a top-tier candidate to challenge Baldwin, who won her 2018 reelection campaign by 11 points.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), a rising star in Republican politics who announced his retirement from the House earlier this month, declined to run, as did other members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee recruited Hovde, who narrowly lost the Senate primary in 2012 to Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin.
He brings to the race a more centrist image, an asset in the perennial swing state of Wisconsin. His campaign website casts him as a bridge-builder who can restore the American dream. But also of interest to national Republicans is his business background and ability to self-fund his candidacy.
“Eric Hovde’s experience as a job creator rather than a career politician makes him a strong candidate to flip Wisconsin’s Senate seat this year,” NRSC Chairman Steve Daines (R-MT) said in a statement. “I’m pleased to see Eric enter this race and look forward to welcoming him to the U.S. Senate.”
Hovde’s campaign had teased a campaign launch last week but declined to provide specifics. His spokesman, Ben Voelkel, told the Washington Examiner he would be giving a “special announcement” in Madison on Tuesday afternoon.
Hovde has deep roots in the city. His grandfather founded a real estate company in Madison that Hovde leads today. But his ties to California — he owns a home and California bank in the state — could also prove to be a liability for him.
Wisconsin Democrats welcomed him to the race by painting him as an out-of-touch elite who is more interested in raising taxes and restricting abortion access than serving the needs of voters.
“California Hovde’s self-serving agenda and attacks on Wisconsinites’ freedoms are exactly why Wisconsinites will reject him and send him back to his $7 million California mansion,” Arik Wolk, the rapid response director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the NRSC launched an assault of its own, highlighting in a new ad a taxpayer-funded trip to New York Baldwin took during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The senator later repaid the $630 “out of an abundance of caution.”
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Hovde’s entrance marks an end to months of uncertainty. Heading into the holidays, Hovde would tell colleagues he was “95%” likely to run. But there remains one open question — whether another Republican businessman, Scott Mayer, will force a divisive primary.
On Tuesday, Mayer declined to comment on whether he is still considering a bid.
