On election night, GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde of Wisconsin led the vote count well into the middle of the night, then Sen. Tammy Baldwin benefited from a ballot dump at 4 a.m., where she received nearly an unprecedented share of the vote.
Hovde, who has been silent about the election results since last week, posted a video to X, revealing that he's been informed of precincts in Milwaukee that reported impossible turnout rates, and now he's considering his options about what to do about it.
He explained that he waited to comment until he could gather sufficient information, remarking, “I believe it’s better not to comment until I have the facts.”
Hovde went on to describe a rollercoaster election night. He was receiving congratulatory calls around 1 a.m. as models suggested he was on track to win. However, things shifted at 4 a.m., when Milwaukee reported a last-minute count of 108,000 absentee ballots that heavily favored Baldwin, who captured nearly 90% of that vote.
“Statistically, this outcome seems improbable as it didn’t match the patterns from same-day voting in Milwaukee where I received 22% of the votes,” he pointed out.
You can see the impact of the ballot dump here:
Another 3am ballot dump in Wisconsin just cost us greatly. They’re hoping we’re too focused on the presidency to care about these other races.
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) November 11, 2024
Sound the alarm! pic.twitter.com/YoERtkB19i
Since that night, Hovde claims that people have raised numerous concerns about potential irregularities to him, including reports of “certain voting precincts in Milwaukee having a turnout of over 150% of registered voters and in some cases over 200%.” He also noted the anomaly that, despite a population decline in Milwaukee and a decrease of 26,330 registered voters, Kamala Harris received only slightly fewer votes than President Biden did in 2020.
Recommended: This Will Be the Next Blue State to Flip Red
Hovde contends that Democrats manipulated the race by propping up “phony” third-party candidates to siphon votes away from him. Additionally, Hovde criticized Wisconsin and Milwaukee’s election commissions for their lax approach to maintaining voter rolls, which he says fuels distrust. “We currently have almost 8 million registered voters on our voter rolls with only 3.5 million active voters,” he stated, questioning the commitment of these bodies to fair and accurate elections.
Though supporters have urged him to contest the results, Hovde stated he would take time to weigh his options carefully, noting the limited scope of a recount in examining the integrity of individual ballots, pointing out there are "meaningful limits on a recount because they don't look at the integrity of a ballot."
He concluded by promising to make an announcement after finalizing his decision, emphasizing that his goal remains to “restore trust in our elections, reduce divisions, and focus on building a better Wisconsin for everyone.”
🚨 JUST IN: GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde of Wisconsin says he was ahead on Election Night, but then suddenly lost the lead when his opponent won "nearly 99%" of ballots dumped at 4AM in Milwaukee.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 12, 2024
Hovde also said he's been reached out to about precincts in Milwaukee having… pic.twitter.com/4VoafIHEDJ
We will continue to monitor this story as new developments occur.
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