Matchup set between Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde in key Wisconsin Senate race

Self-funding businessman and political newcomer Eric Hovde captured the Wisconsin Republican Senate primary, NBC News predicts, putting him in a highly competitive contest against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in Barack Obama’s home state. 
 
Hovde defeated two relatively unknown primary challengers, who had the support of former President Donald Trump and several other national Republicans; Baldwin did not have a primary opponent as she seeks a third term. 
 
Baldwin’s seat is among the most contested in the war for Senate majority between the Republicans and the Democrats since the chamber is closely divided. She has sought to stockpile campaign funds and has sought to capitalize on her popularity among the rural voters in the state. 
 
The Cook Political Report ‘PVI’, indicates that in 2018 Baldwin won by 11 points, having been victorious in 2012 by a 5 point margin. Still, in the previous two presidential elections, Trump, and now President Joe Biden, won the state by less than 1 percentage point. Baldwin has also tested even better than the head of the Democratic ticket in some more recent polls out of Wisconsin. 
 
Hovde, an independently wealthy businessman who lost to Democrat Bob Casey in the November 2012 election for Senate seat, has already invested $13 million in his campaign. But Baldwin has always had a healthier balance sheet, having spent over $30 m to date with $6m. She has other four million dollars in her campaign account as of the July 24 campaign finance reports. Hovde’s campaign has reported having spent $13. Thus far, this blog post alone has received 6 million visitors, and the whole site has $3. 1 million on hand as of July 24, 2005 were its cash and cash equivalents. 
 
As SLP has been expecting and while many have considered Hovde as the front runner in the GOP race, the two candidates have already started mud slinging. 
 
One of what occupies Baldwin’s latest adverts presents children of single mothers using audio clips of Hovde saying that 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: “They are going to continue pushing these false darts because she has no other message She has a record of failing the American people on inflation, border security and crime. ” He further said later, “It’s time to turn the page”. 
 
Besides the Senate, voters in the state selected candidates to compete in the House as well as local elections or primaries. 
 
Self-employed Rebecca Cooke was victorious in the Democratic primary in the 3rd District, where she is going up against incumbent GOP Representative Derrick Van Orden in the general election. He defeated the current Dem incumbent, after the latter retired in 2022 after serving the district for Democrats for many years; he won with a margin of 3. 8% or 12,000 votes. 
 
Van Orden was criticized by members of both the Democrats and the Republicans last year when he was caught on tape using abusive language on a group of Senate pages at the Capitol rotuna. 
 
In the 8th District, Trump-endorsed businessman Tony Wied clinched the Republican primary and is now headed to face Democratic OB-GYN Kristin Lyerly. The seat was most recently occupied by GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, who had to step down earlier this year. 
 
Wied and Lyerly will now compete in two separate elections in November: It was done to fill one position up to the end of Gallager’s term, and the other to take a full two-year term starting in January. Republican-leaning area will be a preference for Wied. 
 
Two other constitutional changes sponsored by Republicans who dominate the Legislature and would have curtailed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ ability to spend state and federal money were rejected by Wisconsin voters, as reported by the AP. 
 
The ‘squad’ member from Minnesota hold off primary challengers 
 
Minnesota, Connecticut and Vermont also had down-ballot primaries Tuesday. 
 
Two incumbents in the Congress from Minnesota are through their respective primaries. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar won her seat after victories over former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels who lost to her by a very close margin of 2 percentage points in the 2022 Democratic party primaries and two other contenders in the solidly blue 5th district. 
 
Two of Omar’s fellow squad members among the progressive Democrats, who have expressed antagonism towards Israel’s war against Hamas, lost their primaries within the past few weeks. 
 
At the same time, GOP incumbent Michelle Fischbach secured her party’s nomination in the safely red 7th District, defeating a primary challenger after the state party declined to endorse her in April. 
 
Fischbach was not shy to use Trump’s endorsement to go on the airwaves and campaign. Her chief main rival was businessman Steve Boyd, who stated in April that by opposition to her inability to win the party endorsement “people turned out last night to demonstrate that they are tired of establishment in Washington. 
 
In the only House race that’s truly up for grabs in Minnesota, incumbent Democratic Rep. Angie Craig will be up against Marine veteran Joe Teirab in November. Teirab, who unveiled Trump’s endorsement in the GOP primary, has been the leading Republican aspirant after his major opponent pulled out last month. 
 
Biden won here in the 2nd District in 2020 by a margin of 7 points, Craig won her third term in the year 2022 by a margin of 5 points. 
 
In the Senate race, a man with a history of provocative statements, former NBA player Royce White, emerged a winner in the Republican primary out of three-dozen candidates to challenge Democrat Amy Klobuchar. 
 
White had the state party seal of approval and led GOP fundraising. However, there are controversies that surround him regarding issue to do with unpaid child support. 
 
However where the GOP has been seeking to put Minnesota into play in presidential elections defeating Klobuchar would be a real herculean task. In her last three races she won by a margin of 20 percentage points above the second contender. 
 
Notable results in Connecticut and Vermont can be stated as follows; 
 
I have projected the following races with certainty and particularity; In Connecticut’s competitive 5th District, the incumbent, the Democrat, Jahana Hayes will have a second term contest with the Republican, ex state Senator George Logan, a man who, like her had no opponent in the primary. Hayes outpoint Logan 1-0 in 2022 after the latter endorsed Biden who won the district with nearly 11 points in 2020. 
 
In other parts of Connecticut, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy again had no opponent in the primary and heads to the general election as the prohibitive favorite over Republican bar owner Matthew Corey, whom he trounced in 2018. 
 
Moreover, in Vermont, GOP’s Phil Scott, the governor will face no serious challenge in the general election as will Bernie Sanders, the independent senator, based on forecast by AP. 
 
Sanders will be up against Republican Gerald Malloy who tried to vie for the Senate’s seat two years ago. The AP predicts Democrat Esther Charlestin, a former member of the Middlebury Selectboard, won the primary to take on Scott, who should be favored to pick up another term in the decidedly blue state of Vermont.