GOP businessman Eric Hovde denied to WisPolitics that he’s been advised by attorney John Eastman, who’s been disbarred for false election claims, as he considers his next steps in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race.
Hovde on Tuesday posted a more than 4-minute video on X in which he made a series of claims about the election, including some that have already been debunked, rather than conceding to Dem Tammy Baldwin. He said in the video that some of his supporters had encouraged him to challenge the results, and he is waiting for the final information to come in before deciding how to proceed.
Hovde has the option to seek a recount in the race, if the unofficial results are confirmed by the county canvasses, though he would have to cover the cost.
GOP sources have indicated that Hovde was being advised by Eastman, an attorney who was indicted for false election claims over the 2020 results. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Eastman and Nathan Trueblood, a Wisconsin-based GOP operative, have been advising Hovde as he considers his next steps.
Hovde wrote in a text message to WisPolitics that he’s spoken “with multiple different attorneys, both national and Wisconsin based,” but didn’t think he’d ever spoken with Eastman about his concerns about the election. He also said while he knows Trueblood, he is relying on those who worked on his campaign and other data experts as he looks at the results.
“The bigger story is what went on, not who’s advising me,” Hovde wrote.
Trueblood wrote in a message to WisPolitics via X last night that he has not been “working with Mr. Hovde, or his campaign.”
“Since Election Day, the conversation with Mr. Hovde has been friendly and non substantive,” Trueblood wrote. “I haven’t otherwise been in contact with his campaign team whatsoever.”
Hovde told WisPolitics he will release his upcoming decisions via video.
Meanwhile, Dems continued to hammer Hovde for his refusal to concede to Baldwin, particularly after he called the Senate race “the most painful loss I’ve ever experienced.”
Following Hovde’s post, Dems circulated audio of a Hovde interview on WISN-AM from yesterday afternoon.
In it, Hovde said he will “definitely pick myself up and move on and continue to fight for our wonderful country and state.”
“It’s the most painful loss I’ve ever experienced,” Hovde said.
Among other things, Hovde in the video falsely claimed that Baldwin received nearly 90% of the absentee ballots tallied in Milwaukee, calling that statistically “improbable.”
Results posted by the Milwaukee Elections Commission showed Baldwin was backed on 82% of the absentee and provisional ballots cast in the city. By comparison, 75.2% of ballots cast in person on Election Day went with Baldwin, and studies have shown Dems are more likely to rely on absentee voting than Republicans.
Baldwin’s performance on absentee and provisional ballots was slightly better than the 80.9% that Kamala Harris received from the city in the presidential race.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson posted on X a statement from the city commission “unequivocally” refuting “Hovde’s baseless claims regarding the integrity of our election process.”
In his text to WisPoltiics, Hovde continued to slam Dem efforts to help American First candidate Thomas Leager qualify for the ballot and questioned who financed ads to back Phil Anderson, a longtime Libertarian and statewide candidate who ran under the Disrupt the Corruption banner in the Senate race.
Leager received 28,724 votes, while Anderson received 42,344, according to unofficial returns.
Baldwin’s lead on Hovde was 29,116 votes.
Republicans assisted Green Jill Stein and activist Cornel West in their presidential bids, hoping they would siphon votes away from Harris. Meanwhile, a group formed in mid-October ran ads attacking Baldwin over her support for Israel. The group has yet to file reports with the FEC detailing its funding, but Dems have said they believe Republicans were behind the effort.
Baldwin, meanwhile, knocked Hovde’s allegations about the election in a post on X.
“Eric Hovde is spreading lies from the darkest corners of the internet to undercut our free and fair elections,” she wrote. “Wisconsin voters made their voices heard. It’s time for Hovde to stop this disgusting attack on our democracy and concede.”
