Wisconsin’s U.S Senate election could help determine which party controls the body after November’s election. Incumbent Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, is locked in a nationally watched re-election battle with Republican Eric Hovde in Wisconsin.
June 26: Hovde defends Juneteenth remarks on his work in the Black community, including Africa
Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde stood by his recent remarks about being connected to the Black community because he has homeless shelters in Africa, saying he was proud of his work helping children there and in America.
“Do I even have to respond to the stupidity of that question?” Hovde said at a Wednesday news conference at Columbia Savings & Loan in Milwaukee when asked about the recent criticism over his comments. “I’ve been involved in the Black community throughout this country.”
This week, the Heartland Signal posted comments Hovde made on WGLB-FM (101.7) during the Juneteenth Celebration in Milwaukee earlier this month. In an interview with radio host Tory Lowe, Hovde was asked by a co-host about his knowledge of Black culture. Hovde is challenging U.S. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat.
“Look, I’ve spent a lot of time in Black culture. And as Tory knows, I’ve spent a lot of time in places like Africa because I have homeless shelters for abandoned kids and rescuing kids out of the streets,” Hovde said. “And I’ve been involved in schooling, charter schools, and things of that nature.”
He said he planned to return to future Juneteenth celebrations in Milwaukee, adding, “I like (to) party. I like dancing. I like food.”
Blogger Ja’han Jones blasted Hovde’s remarks, calling them “reductive and ignorant of the array of Black experiences.” Jones’ blog appears on MSNBC-TV.
“Visiting ‘places like Africa’ doesn’t necessarily make one familiar with Black American culture (which is what was being celebrated at this Juneteenth event),” Jones wrote. “And the implication that one understands Black culture by virtue of their work with homeless shelters, abandoned kids or charter schools reeks of stereotype and white paternalism.”
The state Democratic Party also put out a statement saying Hovde had “equated Black culture to ‘homeless shelters for abandoned kids’ in Africa.”
But Hovde rejected the criticism at Wednesday’s news conference. He has been involved in helping fund schools such as the Washington Jesuit Academy, a Catholic middle school for boys from low-income and underserved communities in Washington, D.C., and been active in the Black business community over the years.
Then he mentioned the shelters he founded in Africa to help enslaved and abandoned children in Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya and Milawi.
“I’m very proud of what I’ve done, in all respects, in this country and in Africa,” Hovde said.
— Daniel Bice
May 3: Conservative group replaces ad targeting Baldwin
An ad declaring that Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin voted to “cut Medicare funding and use that money to subsidize electric vehicles” was pulled and replaced with a similar spot last week, according to emails shared with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The replacement states that Baldwin voted “to use Medicare money for electric vehicle subsidies, instead of seniors.”
Attorneys with Elias Law Group, on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, contacted OnMedia TV Ad Sales on Thursday requesting the spot’s removal. They argued the ad “blatantly lies” about Baldwin’s record.
“As Restoration PAC well knows, Senator Baldwin has never voted to cut Medicare. This false and misleading advertisement should be pulled from your network immediately,” the DSCC attorneys’ letter read.
OnMedia’s director of national sales, Doug Staudt, responded Friday afternoon: “That spot has been replaced and no longer airing, as the agency provided alternate creative.” Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Arik Wolk told the Journal Sentinel another TV advertising company, Viamedia, also told Elias Group lawyers the original ad had been pulled.
According to Restoration PAC, the initial ad buy totals $3 million and will air in every Wisconsin media market. The group stood by both versions of the ad and indicated the changes were made before the Democratic groups complained.
The super PAC is largely funded by Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, who owns the Wisconsin packaging company Uline with his wife, Elizabeth.
“Tammy Baldwin’s values fit uber liberal Madison like a glove and the rest of Wisconsin like a shrunken sweater,” Restoration PAC spokesman Dan Curry said in a statement. “She poses as a moderate but is perhaps the most liberal Senator in America. Her far-left extremism is hurting everyday Wisconsinites and we will make sure that everyone outside of Madison knows the truth about her.”
The ad refers to Baldwin’s 2022 vote in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act — a large legislative package aimed at fighting inflation, lowering the deficit, reducing the price of prescription drugs for seniors and reducing the country’s carbon emissions.
The law includes broad swaths of legislation targeting different sectors of the economy. Among its most prominent provisions are:
- An expansion of Medicare benefits to include free vaccines, insulin prices capped at $35 a month, and a ceiling for prescription drug prices at $4,000 in 2024 and $2,000 in 2026.
- Cuts in the cost of home energy .
- Investments into clean energy and tax breaks meant to reduce carbon emissions 40% by 2030.
- A new 15% minimum corporate tax and a 1% fee on stock buybacks.
- Expanded IRS tax assistance and enforcement through investment of $80 billion over the next 10 years.
- Extension of the Affordable Care Act’s federal subsidies to 2025. These subsidies lower the cost of premiums for enrollees.
A Baldwin spokeswoman accused allies of her Republican opponent, Eric Hovde, of lying about her record.
“Tammy’s record is clear: she’ll always protect Medicare, always stand up for seniors, and fight for every Wisconsinite and their families, no matter their age or ZIP code,” Baldwin campaign spokeswoman Jackie Rosa said in a statement.
Asked about the replacement ad, Rosa said it was “just as false” as the original.
— Jessie Opoien
April 16: Baldwin shares mother’s experience with addiction in new ad
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin shares her mother’s experience with opioid addiction in her latest ad, the third of her 2024 reelection bid.
“I remember coming home from school and pounding on the door, but my mother wouldn’t answer. She’d be passed out inside,” Baldwin says in the 30-second spot. “You know my mother had a drug abuse problem. She struggled with addiction to prescription pills her whole life. But today with fentanyl, one pill, just one pill can kill. So I’ve worked with Republicans to stop the flow of fentanyl that’s poisoning families across Wisconsin.”
Baldwin’s parents divorced while she was young, and she was raised primarily by her grandparents. She didn’t publicly share that it was because her mother was addicted to the drugs she’d been given to treat her mental illness and chronic pain until after her mother’s death in 2017.
She shared her mother’s story publicly for the first time during a Senate committee hearing in 2018, and shared it specifically with Wisconsin voters in a campaign ad a few months later.
The ad specifically notes Baldwin’s work on legislation to fund prevention, treatment and law enforcement efforts directed at the country’s opioid and fentanyl crisis. The House passed its version of the SUPPORT Act passed, and Baldwin helped to usher it through the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, in December 2023. It awaits a full Senate vote.
— Jessie Opoien
April 2: Hovde reports raising more than $1 million since launching campaign, becoming eligible for state GOP endorsement
Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde on Tuesday said his campaign has raised more than $1 million since officially launching in late February.
The figure pushes Hovde past the minimum fundraising threshold a Senate candidate needs to secure the endorsement of the Republican Party of Wisconsin at its state convention next month.
A spokesman for Hovde did not say how much the banking mogul had raised but claimed Hovde “met all the qualifications” to secure the state party’s endorsement. The party requires Senate candidates to secure at least $1 million from a minimum of 1,000 donors by March 31.
Hovde’s $1 million figure, the spokesman said, does not include his own contributions.
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin had just over $8 million in cash in her campaign account at the beginning of the year. A spokesman for Baldwin’s campaign declined to say how the second-term Democrat raised in the latest quarter.
Campaign finance reports must be filed with the Federal Election Commission by April 15.
Wisconsin Republicans’ $1 million endorsement benchmark is up from the $100,000 benchmark set for Republican gubernatorial candidates in 2022. And it’s an adjustment specifically made for a matchup with Baldwin.
“We want to have a winning candidate that can demonstrate the ability to defeat Tammy Baldwin,” Wisconsin GOP spokesman Matt Fisher said.
— Lawrence Andrea
March 28: Baldwin’s second reelection ad highlights push to shore up pensions
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s second ad of her reelection bid highlights her efforts to ward off significant cuts to the pensions of more than 22,000 Wisconsin workers and retirees.
The 30-second spot, set to air statewide, features Teamsters truck drivers and their families touting Baldwin’s work on the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act. In the ad, several share stories of receiving letters informing them their pensions would be cut in half.
Baldwin “fought like hell” to pass the measure, one truck driver in the ad says.
“What Tammy Baldwin did for our families, you don’t forget something like that,” another says.
The ad comes as Baldwin travels the state on a weeklong “Dairyland Tour.” According to her campaign, the trek will take her to 19 counties.
— Jessie Opoien
March 21: When it comes to March Madness, Senate candidate and UW grad Eric Hovde is a Purdue man
He’s running to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate, but when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, Eric Hovde is going all in on… Purdue.
The Republican businessman posted his March Madness picks on X as the tournament began on Thursday — and despite wearing a Badgers pullover, selected the Boilermakers to win the championship.
“At the end of the day Purdue is too tough and will cut down the nets in Phoenix. The Badgers and Marquette make good runs too,” Hovde wrote.
March 19: Scott Mayer won’t enter Republican field to challenge Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin Republican businessman Scott Mayer will not run for Senate in 2024, increasing the odds Republicans will avoid a contested primary race as they seek to unseat Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in November.
Franklin businessman Scott Mayer, chairman of QPS Employment Group, is weighing a run for U.S. Senate.Mayer told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he has no “desire to be in a bloody, really, really, really expensive primary” race against Republican banking mogul Eric Hovde. He said he will “stand down” to let Hovde try to take on Baldwin.
“I really truly feel like I could have made a difference,” Mayer said. “I just don’t want a bloody primary. I don’t think that’s going to help anybody but Tammy Baldwin.”
March 15: Eric Hovde vows to donate Senate salary to charity, says in new ad ‘he can’t be bought’
Republican Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde is pledging to donate his entire salary to a Wisconsin charity if elected in November as part of a campaign claiming he “can’t be bought.”
The multimillionaire banking mogul in a new ad lamented that Washington has become “corrupt,” saying “career politicians sell themselves to special interest” instead of working for their constituents.
“I’ve worked hard, been fortunate. I don’t need their special interest money, and I won’t take it,” Hovde said in the 30-second spot released Friday. “If you decide to elect me as your next senator, I’ll donate my entire salary to a Wisconsin charity every year.”
March 5: Bonafide Badger or ‘pure California’? Senate messages paint contrasting pictures of Eric Hovde
Republican Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde wants to tell you something: He lives here.
As he battles accusations of being an out-of-stater, the multimillionaire banking mogul is taking to the airwaves and social media in an attempt to dispel the charge from Democrats that he is a rich Californian seeking to buy a Wisconsin Senate seat.
On Tuesday, he launched a 60-second statewide television ad titled “Wisconsin Roots” detailing his history in the state. It came the same day Senate Democrats’ main campaign group released a 30-second ad of their own continuing their attacks. Their $2 million statewide ad buy highlights Hovde’s California banks and home and calls his lifestyle “pure California.”
March 4: ‘I think it’s a good brand’: Senate candidate Eric Hovde is owning his mustache look
Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde doesn’t seem to be quite the same fiery and uptight guy he was in his unsuccessful 2012 bid.
Just consider:
There are the two bizarre videos he’s posted of him swimming shirtless in the nearly frozen waters of Lake Mendota near his Shorewood Hills mansion. There’s also the video of him tossing an axe at a bar. Then there are the equally unusual TV commercials in which he dresses up as a sheriff fighting the Big Bankers in a Deadwood-style showdown.
And, finally, there’s the stache. Yes, the stache.
Feb. 20: Businessman Eric Hovde enters U.S. Senate race, setting up Wisconsin contest against Tammy Baldwin
Madison businessman Eric Hovde made it official on Tuesday: he’s running for U.S. Senate, aiming to deny Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin a third term.
Hovde launched a website and a campaign video Tuesday morning, hours ahead of an announcement event in a luxury apartment building his company owns in downtown Madison.
“Why am I here today? It’s really simple,” Hovde, 59, told supporters Tuesday afternoon. “I love my country. And everywhere I look today in my country, I see it failing. And sometimes I don’t recognize what’s happening.”
