Former President Donald Trump endorsed businessman Eric Hovde’s candidacy for the Senate in Wisconsin during a campaign rally on Tuesday.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has frequently boosted Republican primary candidates with his endorsements, helping many of them win their respective primaries.
On Tuesday, Trump endorsed Hovde — the CEO of Sunwest Bank — to run against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin in the 2024 election, with the state being regarded as a “battleground” that is crucial to his 2024 campaign strategy.
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“[He’s] a man who’s doing really good…he’s just about even in the polls, I see it. He’s a handsome devil…U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde,” Trump remarked during his speech. “Eric, I am giving you my complete and total endorsement, so go out and win…you’d better win. We always win.”
Hovde endorsed Trump’s candidacy for the presidency on Feb. 22.
Hovde’s campaign has been supported by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the GOP’s Senate campaign organization, which recruited him to run after two incumbent House Republicans declined to do so.
Hovde previously ran for the Senate in 2012 against then-Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Baldwin’s predecessor. That year, he lost the Republican primary to former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who later lost to Kohl. Since announcing his candidacy, Hovde has raised more than $1 million, according to WisPolitics.
Hovde’s campaign has focused on the cost of living, illegal immigration to the United States, healthcare and foreign policy as his top issues for the election.
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“We have always been a nation of immigrants, but the American Dream should be pursued legally through the appropriate channels. The Biden-Baldwin open border policy is fueling a crisis on our southern border and many people have lost their lives because of it. Our laws need to be enforced and our borders strengthened if we want to keep our streets safe and protect the lives of U.S. citizens and migrants,” Hovde wrote on his campaign website.
Hovde has been endorsed by all of Wisconsin’s Republican House of Representatives members and former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. He is running against two other lesser-known candidates.
However, in hypothetical polling, Hovde remains behind former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who has not declared his candidacy but has suggested that he may run. Wisconsin’s Republican senatorial primary is scheduled for Aug. 13.
Trump’s endorsement of Hovde may lead to a significant polling boost for his candidacy. In Michigan, after Trump endorsed former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in the 2024 Senate campaign, support for Rogers increased by 40 percentage points to 67%, making him the frontrunner, according to a poll by the Michigan Information & Research Service.
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