Businessman Eric Hovde won the Wisconsin Republican primary for the Senate, NBC News projects, setting up a critical battleground-state race against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
Hovde, who was backed by former President Donald Trump and other national Republicans, easily fended off two lesser-known primary opponents, while Baldwin ran unopposed as she seeks a third term.
Baldwin’s seat is a top priority for both parties in the battle for control of the closely divided Senate. She has worked to build up a sizable campaign war chest and leverage her appeal in rural parts of the state.
In 2018, Baldwin won re-election by 11 points, following a 5-point win in 2012. By comparison, Trump and President Joe Biden each carried the state by less than 1 percentage point in the last two White House contests. Baldwin has also fared better than the top of the Democratic ticket in some recent Wisconsin polling.
Hovde, an independently wealthy businessman who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2012, has already lent his campaign $13 million. But Baldwin has maintained a financial edge, having spent more than $30 million so far with $6.4 million left in her campaign account as of July 24, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Hovde’s campaign has reported having spent $13.6 million so far, and it had $3.1 million on hand as of July 24.
With Hovde long viewed as the favorite to win the GOP nomination, the two candidates have already been trading barbs.
One of Baldwin’s most recent ads features children of single mothers, highlighting audio of Hovde saying children “born out of wedlock” are on “a direct path to a life of poverty.”
“That just shows Eric Hovde is ignorant,” a person says in the ad, with another person adding later, “What is wrong with this guy?”
Hovde has pushed back against Baldwin’s negative ads, launching a TV spot in which he says: “The false attacks are going to keep coming because she has nothing to run on. Her record has failed us on inflation, the border and crime.” He adds later, “It’s time for change.”
In addition to the Senate race, Wisconsin voters cast ballots in House and local primaries.
Business owner Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic primary in the 3rd District, advancing to the general election against GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden. He flipped the seat for Republicans in 2022 after the retirement of longtime Democratic Rep. Ron Kind, winning by almost 4 points.
Van Orden was condemned by members of both parties last year after he cursed at a group of Senate pages during an incident at the Capitol rotunda.
In the 8th District, Trump-backed businessman Tony Wied won the Republican primary, setting up a matchup with Democratic OB-GYN Kristin Lyerly. The seat was previously held by GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, who resigned earlier this year.
Wied and Lyerly will now compete in two separate elections in November: one to serve the remainder of Gallager’s term and one for a full two-year term starting in January. Wied will be favored in the GOP-leaning area.
Wisconsin voters also rejected two proposed constitutional amendments, backed by Republicans who control the Legislature, would have restricted Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ powers to allocate state and federal dollars, according to The Associated Press.
Minnesota ‘squad’ member fends of primary challengers
Minnesota, Connecticut and Vermont also held down-ballot primaries Tuesday.
Two members of Congress in Minnesota survived their primaries. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar defeated former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, who lost to her by just 2 percentage points in the 2022 primary, and two other challengers in the solidly blue 5th District.
Two of Omar’s fellow members of the progressive “squad” of lawmakers who have been critical of Israel’s war with Hamas lost their primaries in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Michelle Fischbach won her primary, NBC News projects, fending off a primary challenger in the deep-red 7th District after she failed to win the state party’s endorsement in April.
Fischbach touted her endorsement from Trump on the airwaves. Her chief primary opponent was businessman Steve Boyd, who said in a statement in April that her inability to win the party endorsement “goes to show that Americans are turning out to show they are fed up with the establishment in Washington.”
In Minnesota’s battleground 2nd District, Democratic Rep. Angie Craig will officially face Marine veteran Joe Teirab in November. Teirab, who had Trump’s endorsement in the GOP primary, was the leading Republican candidate after his chief rival dropped out last month.
Biden won the 2nd District in 2020 by 7 points, while Craig won her third term in 2022 by 5 points.
In the Senate race, former NBA player Royce White, who has a long history of incendiary comments, won the crowded Republican primary to take on Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
White led the GOP field in fundraising and had the state party’s endorsement. But he has faced criticism relating to unpaid child support.
While Republicans have been looking to put Minnesota in play in the presidential race, defeating Klobuchar would be a tough task. She has won each of her last three races by 20 percentage points or more.
Notable results in Connecticut and Vermont
In Connecticut’s competitive 5th District, Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes will once again face off against Republican former state Sen. George Logan, the AP projected, after each ran unopposed in their primaries. Hayes defeated Logan by just 1 point in 2022 after Biden carried the district by nearly 11 points two years previously.
Elsewhere in Connecticut, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy ran unopposed in his primary and moves on to the general election as the heavy favorite against Republican bar owner Matthew Corey, whom he defeated in 2018.
And in Vermont, Republican Gov. Phil Scott and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders will move on to the general election, according to the AP; they aren’t expected to face serious competition.
Sanders will face Republican Gerald Malloy, who made an unsuccessful run for the Senate two years ago. The AP projects Democrat Esther Charlestin, a former member of the Middlebury Selectboard, won the primary to go up against Scott, who will be a heavy favorite to win another term despite Vermont’s deep-blue hue.
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