Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin running for third term

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) announced on Wednesday that she is running for reelection to her seat in what will be a key battleground state for control of the Senate in 2024. 

Baldwin highlighted in a release that she has worked with Democrats and Republicans to pass legislation promoting “Made in America manufacturing,” lowering the cost of prescription drugs like insulin and expanding health care for veterans. 

“I’m committed to making sure that working people, not just the big corporations and ultra-wealthy, have a fighter on their side,” she said in a statement. “With so much at stake, from families struggling with rising costs to a ban on reproductive freedom, Wisconsinites need someone who can fight and win.”

Baldwin became the first openly LGBTQ member of the Senate when she was first elected to her seat in 2012. She is also the first woman elected to Congress representing Wisconsin. 

The race for Baldwin’s seat will likely be one of the most closely watched and hotly contested races during the next election cycle. Republicans will likely target the seat in one of the closest swing states in the country. 

Baldwin won her reelection fight for a second term in 2018 comfortably, by more than 10 points. 

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which works to elect Republicans to the Senate, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the seat is “one of our top targets this cycle.” 

“Tammy Baldwin has joined her Democrat colleagues in the Senate to rubber-stamp [President] Joe Biden and [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer’s [(D-N.Y.)] reckless spending and radical agenda,” NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell said. “She’s a reliable vote for the far left, not a senator Wisconsin can count on.” 

Democrats also received what is likely good news on Monday when Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), another incumbent representing a key swing state, announced that he would run for another term in the Senate.