Tammy Baldwin secures third term in exciting Wisconsin Senate race

Senate Republicans have spent heavily in Wisconsin, a perennial battleground where races are often decided by razor-thin margins.

Polls have shown Baldwin’s Senate race to be no different. In the closing weeks of the campaign, he nearly tied with bank CEO Hovde, who invested $20 million of his own money into the campaign.

But Baldwin narrowly clinched a third term on Tuesday night, receiving 49.4 percent of the vote. Associated Press The race was called Wednesday. Hovde received 48.5%.

The race was Baldwin’s closest statewide race yet. In his previous two runs, he defeated his Republican opponent by 5 points and then 11 points.

Baldwin announced his win before the AP called the race, saying: “The people of Wisconsin have always elected someone who puts Wisconsin first, who shows up, who listens, and who works with everyone to get the job done. And to come to our state, spread hatred and divisiveness, and fight their way to power.” They also rejected billionaires and special interest groups who wanted to buy it.”

It also marks a second political defeat for Hovde, who tried to challenge Baldwin when he first ran for Senate in 2012. Baldwin lost the Republican primary that year to former Governor Tommy Thompson.

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Wisconsin wasn’t a must-win state for Republicans. I invested more It flips Democratic-held seats in Ohio and Pennsylvania. But Baldwin’s return to the Senate means Republicans will have less margin for error when they get majority next year.

The political dynamics determining the race in Wisconsin were similar to other Senate battlegrounds. Baldwin survived in part by campaigning on access to abortion, an issue that continues to have an impact on independents after the Supreme Court overturned the decision. Roe v. wade In 2022.

Republicans, meanwhile, painted Baldwin as a rubber stamp for Vice President Kamala Harris, whose votes fueled the border crisis and decades of high inflation.

But the course of the race also changed increasingly personal Each candidate accused the other of lying and making misrepresentations. In fact, in the closing weeks, Baldwin’s girlfriend became the target of Republican attacks.

The Hovde campaign said the relationship constituted a conflict of interest. His partner, Maria Brisbane, is an asset manager whose connections to Wall Street led to demands that he file financial disclosure statements.

But Democrats said the emphasis amounted to a “dog whistle” aimed at turning voters against Baldwin based on his sexual orientation, not his policies.

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Brisbane came up in the debate in October and heavily featured campaign ads included one accusing Baldwin of being “in bed with Wall Street.”

Hovde’s connections to California, however, have come under relentless scrutiny from Democrats. Hovde, a real estate mogul from Madison, Wisconsin, was born and raised in the state but has a home in Laguna Beach, California.