Wisconsin businessman Eric Hovde announced Tuesday that he will run for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat now held by Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
“It’s official. I’m in! I’m not a politician and that’s a good thing. It’s time for new ideas and leaders working to solve the problems that divide us,” Hovde wrote in a posted on X.
“I’m running for the United States Senate because I’m tired of the constant divisiveness and finger-pointing from politicians. It’s time to send a fighter to Washington who will work to find common ground and restore the American dream,” Hovde wrote in a separate message. X post.
“Do you feel like America is slipping away? Our country faces enormous challenges: our economy, our healthcare, crime and open borders. Everything is going in the wrong direction. All Washington does is divide us and argue over who is to blame. And nothing gets done,” she said in an accompanying video.
I’m running for the United States Senate because I’m tired of the constant divisiveness and finger-pointing from politicians.
It’s time to send a fighter to Washington who will work to find common ground and restore the American dream.
Join me: https://t.co/K21p8GDA11 pic.twitter.com/IB0dwgSZe8
— Eric Hovde (@EricHovde) February 20, 2024
“This is not the country I know and love,” he said.
“I believe we need to come together and find common-sense solutions to restore America,” he said.
Hovde is a multimillionaire, owner of a Madison-based real estate company and several West Coast banking companies, according to NBC.
Hovde lost the Republican Senate primary in 2012 and considered, but did not pursue, campaigns for Senate in 2018 and governor in 2022.
“Eric Hovde’s experience as a job creator rather than a career politician makes him a strong candidate to flip Wisconsin’s Senate seat this year,” the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, according to The Hill.
“I am happy to see Eric enter this race and look forward to welcoming him to the United States Senate,” Daines said.
Scott Mayer, a Wisconsin businessman, has considered a campaign to challenge Baldwin, but said last week he wasn’t sure whether he would run.
In a statement on his campaign website, Hovde said he wants to restore America.
“I was born in a time when our country was strong, economically, socially and viewed with enormous respect internationally,” he said.
“Now, like many other Americans, I feel as if I am watching that great country decline as the American dream becomes increasingly out of reach for too many of my fellow citizens,” he said.
“The economic path we have been on and the corruption that has been rampant in Washington DC over the last 15 years, coupled with the last four disastrous years under the Joe Biden administration… I no longer recognize my country.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way. I believe we can restore the American Dream by coming together as Americans to solve the problems we face, rebuild our economy, strengthen our communities, and provide strength internationally. It is only through unity and perseverance that we can restore the American dream for future generations,” she concluded.
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.