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Nov 18, 2024, 11:15 AM CST
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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde announced Monday that he was conceding the race to Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin nearly two weeks after the election.
The Madison businessman released a video on social media on Monday outlining his decision.
“The outcome (of the election) is not what I’d hope for, but I do not regret entering this race,” he said. “The issues I’ve raised have resonated with many.”
A source in the Baldwin camp confirmed that Hovde hasn’t called Baldwin to concede.
Hovde lost to Baldwin by a narrow margin following a hard-fought campaign. Baldwin won by less than 1%, or about 29,000 votes. The Associated Press had declared Baldwin the winner on Nov. 6, but Hovde and his campaign declined to concede for several days.
In a previous video released last week on social media, Hovde explained his silence, saying he was weighing his options and waiting until Wisconsin election officials completed their canvassing efforts before deciding what action to take.
Hovde leveled several allegations in that video, including questioning absentee vote totals coming out of Milwaukee and accusations that Democrats supported third-party candidates in the race. Specifically, he pointed to the number of absentee ballots, how much support Baldwin had in these ballots and when they were tabulated during the early morning hours after Election Night.
State and local election officials subsequently rejected Hovde’s claims and affirmed the results.
In his video statement posted Monday, Hovde continued to raise questions about absentee ballots that were tallied.
“There are many troubling issues around these absentee ballots and their timing,” he said.
The Republican said that some supporters had urged him to challenge the election and seek a recount. However, he said that without a detailed review of the ballots and their legitimacy, he thought a recount would serve no purpose because it wouldn’t evaluate the “integrity” of the results.
Beyond the vote totals, Hovde also accused “Democratic operatives” of supporting both an America First and Libertarian Party candidates to siphon off possible votes from his own candidacy.
Ultimately, Hovde said he thought the recount process and the possibility of fighting the results in the courts would add to political division.
“As a result, and my desire to not add to political strife through a contentious recount, I’ve decided to concede the election,” he said.
Hovde said he thought the political process was “broken” and alleged that he faced protesters at his home, lawsuits harassing his businesses and misleading attack ads since launching the Senate campaign.
Stay tuned to Civic Media for continuing coverage.
