Eric Hovde launches Wisconsin Senate bid, handing GOP a boost

Republican Eric Hovde made his campaign to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) official Tuesday, handing the GOP one of the final pieces to its 2024 map puzzle in a key battleground state.

Hovde, a Madison-area businessman, gives Republicans a potentially formidable candidate in a tricky state that has valued incumbency in recent years.

In a launch video, Hovde said it feels as though America “is slipping away” before checking off a laundry list of issues, including the economy and the border.

“Everything is going in the wrong direction. All Washington does is divide us and talk about who’s to blame and nothing gets done. That’s not the country I know and love,” Hovde said. “I believe we need to come together and find commonsense solutions to restore America.” 

The announcement is being greeted as welcome news in national GOP circles. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) has for months been hailing Hovde as the top choice of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Wisconsin was the last remaining contest without a standout Senate GOP candidate, and Republicans were searching for one to take on Baldwin, who has proven to be difficult to beat in both of her previous two Senate races. 

In Hovde, Republicans get a battle-tested candidate who is prepared to spend big on the race. 

The businessman lost narrowly to former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) in the 2012 GOP Senate primary. Baldwin went on to defeat Thompson in the general election. 

He is also expected to spend in the neighborhood of $20 million of his own money on the contest.

“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,” Daines said in a statement. “I’m pleased to see Eric enter this race and look forward to welcoming him to the U.S. Senate.”

Republican operatives and strategists say that though Hovde is jumping into the race later than candidates in other key states, he has spent months putting together the apparatus for his campaign, and his financial position means he didn’t need as long a fundraising runway.

They also say that Hovde believed Republican primary voters are not yet tuned into down-ballot contests and have only been paying attention to the presidential primary race — if they were paying attention at all. 

“Are people really tuned in right now?” one source familiar with Hovde’s thinking said last month. “It’s going to be an expensive race, so why not spend money when people are tuned in.”

Hovde could skate into the general election, though other Republicans are pondering primary runs. Scott Mayer, another businessman, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently that he is still considering a bid. Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke had also teased a possible run but has gone quiet on that front lately. 

The filing deadline to enter the race is June 3, and the primary takes place on Aug. 13.

Waiting down the road is Baldwin, who has been difficult for Republicans to defeat dating back to that 2012 race. After defeating Thompson, she scored a double-digit reelection win in 2018. 

Baldwin is also gearing up financially, having posted $2.7 million in the last three months of 2023 and $8 million in the bank. She raised $31 million for her 2018 campaign and has raised more than $11 million all told for her current campaign. 

Republicans have acknowledged the difficulty in ousting Baldwin but are hoping the presidential winds can help swing them in the right direction. 

Still, Baldwin maintains a significant incumbency advantage. Wisconsin in recent years has rewarded those in office who are running for reelection. The only incumbents who have lost in the last 15 years on either side of the aisle are former Gov. Scott Walker (R) in 2018 and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D) in 2010.

“California bank owner Eric Hovde is running for Senate to impose his self-serving agenda, putting ultra rich people like himself ahead of middle-class Wisconsinites,” Arik Wolk, a Wisconsin Democrats’ spokesperson, said in a statement. “Hovde would vote to pass a national abortion ban, raise taxes on working families and seniors while cutting Social Security and Medicare, and repeal the Affordable Care Act.” 

“California Hovde is set up for a bruising primary battle with fellow GOP megamillionaire Scott Mayer, but his 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,” Wolk added.

Updated at 1:19 p.m.