{"id":1993021,"date":"2023-08-07T11:19:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T15:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/madison-millionaire-weighs-baldwin-challenge-as-gop-seeks-wisconsin-senate-candidate\/"},"modified":"2023-08-07T11:21:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T15:21:51","slug":"madison-millionaire-weighs-baldwin-challenge-as-gop-seeks-wisconsin-senate-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/madison-millionaire-weighs-baldwin-challenge-as-gop-seeks-wisconsin-senate-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"Madison millionaire considers Baldwin challenge as GOP searches for Wisconsin Senate candidate."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmadison-millionaire-weighs-baldwin-challenge-as-gop-seeks-wisconsin-senate-candidate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1993021&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Battle for Wisconsin&#8217;s \u2062Senate Seat<\/h2>\n<p>The first time Eric Hovde ran for \u2062Senate in Wisconsin,\u200d he muscled his way into a crowded primary of\u200b GOP titans fighting to \u200bchallenge then-congresswoman Tammy \u200dBaldwin (D).<\/p>\n<p>Dropping over $5 \u200bmillion of his own money in the final months of \u2064the race, the Madison businessman beat out a former U.S. congressman and the speaker of \u2063the state assembly, \u2064only to fall 3 points short of Tommy Thompson, the former\u2064 governor of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>ALABAMA REDISTRICTING: DEMOCRATS BALK AS REPUBLICANS \u2063DEFEND NEWLY REDRAWN MAP<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A decade later, few Republicans are clamoring to challenge Baldwin,\u200c now an incumbent running for her third term in the Senate. She\u2062 beat Thompson\u200d that year by more than\u2062 5 points. Her 2018\u200c challenger lost\u2064 by 11.<\/p>\n<p>One by one, the \u2063most obvious recruits\u200b have passed on a Senate run \u2014 first, Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Wisconsin Republican \u2063who chairs the House select committee\u2063 on China. \u200dLast \u200cweek, his\u200d colleague Tom Tiffany (R-WI) \u200djoined that list.<\/p>\n<p>The reluctance underscores the political risk of challenging a\u2063 Democrat who has, against the odds, won comfortably\u200d despite \u200dbeing a progressive \u200bsenator representing a \u2063purple state.<\/p>\n<p>But it also could \u2063present an opportunity \u2063for Hovde, should he \u200ddecide to run again, to avoid the sort of bruising primary that left Thompson limping \u200binto the general election\u200c in \u20642012. For now, he is \u200bstaring down an open field.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/madison-millionaire-weighs-baldwin-challenge-as-gop-seeks-wisconsin-senate-candidate\/\" title=\"Madison millionaire considers Baldwin challenge as GOP searches for Wisconsin Senate candidate.\">real estate developer\u2062 worth tens<\/a> and possibly hundreds of millions of \u200bdollars, has repeatedly eyed another run for statewide office. \u200bHe mulled\u2064 but decided against a Baldwin challenge in\u2063 2018 and raised speculation that he could run for governor \u2062last year. He opted to hold off, expressing interest in next\u2064 year\u2019s Senate race instead.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde is in no rush to decide, much to the chagrin of\u200c state and national Republicans. He\u2019s a \u200btop recruit for the National\u2062 Republican Senatorial \u200bCommittee, which gravitates toward deep-pocketed hopefuls, and has been approached by\u200b everyone from political operatives\u200d to possible donors in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde,\u2062 in\u200b an interview with \u2064the Washington Examiner \u200con Friday, \u2062chuckled at \u200dthe attention he\u2019s received in recent months. \u201cFor some reason, when you consider a Senate run, everybody wants to get together with you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But party leaders will have to wait a bit\u2062 longer\u2064 before Hovde decides whether to jump \u2063in. That decision will\u2064 come sometime in the fall, he said. When pressed\u200c for \u200dmore detail, Hovde said\u200d he had not \u201cset a specific\u200b time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou \u200cknow, \u200dit&#8217;s not an easy decision. It&#8217;s a major commitment of your \u2064life, of your resources, and all the \u200drest, but I\u2019m taking a hard, serious look\u200d at it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the businessman \u2063has begun vetting consultants, according \u2062to one operative, and appeared at two GOP events last month.<\/p>\n<p>He and his wife attended \u200da boat cruise\u200b hosted by the Walworth County Republican Party on\u2063 Lake Geneva,\u200c where he\u2062 schmoozed with \u200cparty officials and benefactors. Among \u200cthose present were Tiffany and Brian Schimming, the head of the state party, according to Chris\u2064 Goebel, the chairman\u2064 of the Walworth County Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks later,\u200c Hovde delivered a \u200bspeech at a party picnic in Dane County, where he emphasized the need for Republicans to \u200binvest more resources there and turn out\u200b rural \u200bvoters in \u200can otherwise blue enclave.<\/p>\n<p>He handily\u2063 won a straw poll\u2064 for the Wisconsin \u200dSenate race taken after the speech, according to Brandon Maly, the chairman of the \u2064Dane County Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde downplayed the significance \u2062of his\u2062 attendance at the events. \u201cWho doesn&#8217;t like a boat cruise on Lake Geneva?\u201d\u2062 he quipped. As to the picnic, \u200che \u200bnoted that he has \u201calways\u201d attended GOP \u2062events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome people\u200c run and then show up to events and then don&#8217;t\u200d show up for \u200da decade and then show up again,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So, look, me speaking at a Republican Dane County picnic is no big deal.\u2063 I&#8217;ve\u200c spoken at many Dane\u2064 County Republican events when \u2064there was no \u200drace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hovde did acknowledge, though, that he\u2062 would start to frequent more events as he gets closer to making a decision. According to those familiar with his thinking, he is \u200bmore likely to run than not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;d say he\u2019s certainly leaning towards entering the race,\u201d said Bill McCoshen, a Republican strategist \u2064who met with Hovde late last\u200b month.<\/p>\n<p>Should he decide to enter, Hovde said he won\u2019t necessarily announce in the fall. In 2012, he waited\u2063 until \u2062March, five\u200d months before the primary.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde is not the only Republican weighing his options \u2014 the NRSC has also expressed interest in another businessman, Scott Mayer, who\u200d has \u2063said he will make\u2063 a decision by \u2063Labor Day. Former\u2062 Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, the firebrand conservative \u200cwho attracted controversy as a surrogate \u2063for former President Donald Trump, has also \u2063fueled\u200c speculation.<\/p>\n<p>Clarke touted a poll the\u200c other month that found \u200bhim\u2064 leading a hypothetical primary field with 40% of the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans doubt that Clarke will actually jump\u2064 in, however, and Mayer seems\u200b reluctant \u2014 he told NBC News in\u2063 April he \u201cmight\u201d run \u201cif no one else comes up to the\u200c plate.\u201d The big-spending Club for Growth, meanwhile, told reporters in a press briefing last month that it is not interviewing any GOP challengers\u2063 in the state.<\/p>\n<p>That means Hovde could have the field all to himself, allowing him to save his money for a general election \u200bchallenge against Baldwin.<\/p>\n<p>Just the threat of a large financial commitment from Hovde would clear\u2063 the field, McCoshen said. Though Hovde declined to say how much\u200d of his \u200bwealth he is\u200d willing \u2063to part with, McCoshen\u2064 and a second operative \u2062believe he would put forward at least \u2064$10 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you&#8217;ve got somebody like Hovde, who&#8217;s willing\u2064 to put in north of $10\u200d million, I think that becomes a daunting task for somebody like \u2062David\u2064 Clarke to overcome,\u201d McCoshen said.<\/p>\n<p>The prospect\u2064 of an uncontested primary is particularly attractive to state \u2063Republicans, who \u2063endured a bitter gubernatorial primary last\u2063 cycle, followed by a state Supreme Court race \u2064earlier this year that pitted two conservatives against each \u200bother. There\u2019s \u2063little appetite for a repeat \u2014 both ended in costly losses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve been through some bruising\u200d times,\u201d\u2062 Maly said. \u201cSometimes, we come out stronger for it, but lately, not so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hovde said his ability to avoid a\u2064 contested primary, while a factor, will not weigh heavily in his decision-making. He noted just how crowded the 2012 primary was when he entered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou talk about a contested primary, \u2064I entered it. While you \u2064always look at \u200cthat, it&#8217;s just one of the many factors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about \u200da possible\u200c run by Clarke, Hovde told the Washington Examiner\u2064 the ex-sheriff \u200cwould be a \u201cserious contender\u201d but that his entry would not change his calculus. \u201cI\u2064 have the highest respect for him, but that would not\u2063 dissuade \u200cme,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The big \u200dquestion mark\u200b for Hovde is whether he can\u200b defeat Baldwin in a general election. \u200bShe is known as a strong fundraiser who places an emphasis on constituent services, and though Baldwin is one of the \u200dmore progressive Democrats\u200b in the \u200dSenate, she has kept a low profile, focusing on \u2062legislation that resonates with Wisconsin\u200c voters.<\/p>\n<p>Even as President Joe \u200dBiden \u2063won Wisconsin\u2062 by\u200b a single point \u2064in 2020, Baldwin sailed to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-chief-of-staff-touts-bidens-unpopularity-after-wildly-unpopular-emmanuel-macron-wins-french-presidential-election\/\" title=\"White House Chief of Staff Touts Biden\u2019s Unpopularity After Wildly Unpopular Emmanuel Macron Wins French Presidential Election\">double-digit victory<\/a> two years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe runs strong by herself. She&#8217;s not gonna be taken down or \u200dswept in by the \u2062top of the ticket,\u201d McCoshen said.<\/p>\n<p>The same can\u2019t necessarily be \u2062said of Hovde if he runs with Trump \u200dat the top of the ticket.<\/p>\n<p>The former president won Wisconsin in 2016, the first Republican to do so since\u2064 Ronald Reagan, \u200dbut the margins were exceedingly\u200c narrow. He won by little more than \u200c20,000 votes, only\u200d to lose by virtually the same margin four \u200byears later. If Trump wins the \u2062nomination again in 2024, as\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marianne-williamson-knocks-dnc-over-lack-of-debates-as-biden-campaign-launch-nears\/\" title=\"Marianne Williamson knocks DNC over lack of debates as Biden campaign launch nears\">current polling suggests<\/a> he\u2063 will, Republican strategists in the state worry he will be a drag \u2063on down-ballot races.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde has to assess for himself whether \u2062he can outperform Trump like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) did in 2016, according to McCoshen. Johnson won by 3 percentage points that year, a margin that\u200c dropped to a single point in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde acknowledged the presidential race is one factor he is weighing but otherwise steered\u2063 around\u200b the topic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, you&#8217;re \u2063always\u2064 going to factor all \u2064the political dynamics that are taking place,\u200b be it on the Republican side, the Democratic side, the landscape, and what it looks like. So, you know, \u2062anybody that wouldn&#8217;t take that into consideration would be foolish,\u201d he\u2062 said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I&#8217;m not going to get into how I view one presidential candidate on the \u200bRepublican side versus\u2062 the other. If\u200d I get into it, I&#8217;ll be running for the U.S. Senate race and not for the presidency, so I&#8217;ll be supportive of whoever&#8217;s on the top of\u2062 the \u200bticket,\u201d\u2064 he added.<\/p>\n<p>Waiting until the fall to decide gives Hovde the luxury of seeing \u200dhow\u200d the presidential race shapes up. By November, the Republican\u2064 National Committee will have held two primary debates.<\/p>\n<p>But from his conversations with Hovde, Maly believes his decision will\u2062 largely come down to data \u2062and money. \u201cI think his Trump considerations are minor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it comes down to more\u200d of a data game and \u2063how much damage\u2063 can be\u200d done to Baldwin, how much money\u2064 would it \u200ctake?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, the Wisconsin Senate race \u2064clocked in as the fourth most expensive of \u2063the cycle, with $225 million spent by both sides combined. Of that, the Johnson campaign raised $36 million.<\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin\u200c could get overlooked by national Republicans this cycle as the party pours\u2062 money into three red\u200d states viewed as their best pickup opportunities: Ohio, \u200bMontana, and West Virginia. \u200cNetting two \u2062would hand the\u2063 51-49 Senate \u200bto Republicans next year. That \u200bnumber falls to one if Republicans also carry the White House, given the vice president can cast tiebreaking votes.<\/p>\n<p>If the eventual nominee in Wisconsin can demonstrate he or \u200bshe has a \u2062real \u2062shot at winning, the NRSC could always invest \u2062in the state, but if past is prologue, it may not be until\u2063 late summer next year before substantial resources are \u200bcommitted.<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Scholz, a GOP strategist in the state, believes\u200b Republicans will have to\u2062 do a better job winning back suburban voters who left the party due \u2063to Trump to have\u2064 a fighting chance. He noted that longtime strongholds such as Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties trended toward the Democrats in \u200c2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans have \u2063lots of challenges, not only recruiting\u2064 somebody\u200c against\u2062 Tammy Baldwin, not only figuring\u2062 out how to get through the \u200bpresidential primary, you know \u2014 \u200cbut also how to bring people back into the Republican Party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Hovde, perhaps due to his roots in Madison, the second largest \u200bcity in Wisconsin after Milwaukee, seems\u200b keenly aware\u2063 of\u200d this and emphasized the need for Republicans to court independents and \u200csoft Democrats.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/eric-hovde-wisconsin-senate-race-tammy-baldwin\">CLICK HERE\u200d TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON \u2062EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I were to get into this race, I&#8217;m a big believer in \u200dRonald Reagan&#8217;s theory \u2014 you\u2019ve got to broaden \u200bthe tent, and\u2062 you got to speak to people of all political views,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you\u2063 know, make the case for why your policies, your views, are better for the country and for them personally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Should he run,\u200b Hovde signaled he would lean \u200bon his business background and emphasize the economy, as he did \u200cin 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his initial Senate run in Wisconsin, Eric Hovde emerged victorious from a competitive GOP primary against prominent contenders, aiming to challenge Democrat Tammy Baldwin. With a personal investment exceeding $5 million during the campaign&#8217;s last stages, the Madison entrepreneur surpassed a former congressman and the speaker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1993022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1993021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1993021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1993021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1993021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1993022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1993021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1993021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1993021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}