Election 2024: Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate Candidates on the Record

On the ballot on November 5, 2024 are candidates for the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin, as well as a number of other statewide offices. Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin will face off against Eric Hovde, a real estate mogul and bank CEO.

Baldwin has served in elected office on the county, state, and federal level, becoming the first female U.S. representative from Wisconsin and first out lesbian elected to the U.S. Senate. This is Hovde’s second attempt at his first elected office. He has business interests and was born in Wisconsin, and his primary residence is in Orange County, California.

“The differences between Senator Tammy Baldwin and candidate Eric Hovde are stark, and the stakes of this election are incredibly high” said Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin. “It is imperative that we see the full picture of each candidate’s views so that we can see which candidate will lead with a pro-equality agenda.”

GLAAD is urging media covering this Senate election to include accurate information and context to explain the candidates’ records and proposals on the critical issues impacting LGBTQ people in Wisconsin and nationwide. The candidates’ LGBTQ records include:

Tammy Baldwin (D, incumbent)

• Endorsed by the Fair Wisconsin Political Action Committee, Human Rights Campaign, and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. Said Fair Wisconsin, “Throughout her career, Tammy has been a tireless champion for all of Wisconsin’s families, from leading the charge to pass the Respect for Marriage Act that codified same-sex and interracial marriage to cosponsoring the Women’s Health Protection Act that would allow women to make their own healthcare decisions.”
• Joined Sen. Tim Kaine (D – Virginia) in introducing a resolution acknowledging “the mistreatment and wrongful terminations of LGBTQ+ civil servants, foreign service officers, and service members” since 1949. “Anyone who serves our country, whether they are in uniform or a civil servant, deserves to be treated with respect, fairness, and dignity, regardless of who they are or who they love,” Baldwin said.
• Marked National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) by sharing her pride in serving “as the first openly gay Senator in our nation’s history.” Baldwin also cautioned, “We need to stand up to those who are hellbent on rolling back our progress.”
• Co-sponsored the Pride in Mental Health Act, which would bolster mental health and crisis intervention resources available to LGBTQ youth. According to LGBTQ Nation, “the bill would award grants for mental health services to eligible organizations to assess and improve mental health and substance use outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, nonbinary, intersex, and Two Spirit youth.”
• Co-sponsored the Equality Act (reintroduced in 2023), aimed at protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in education, federal funding, and housing, among others.
• Co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act in the U.S. Senate. The Act added legal protections for marriage equality and repealed the Defense of Marriage Act, and was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December 2022.
• Co-sponsored: The Women’s Health Protection Act prohibiting “governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services.”
• Co-sponsored the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act to offset travel-related expenses associated with traveling long distances to access reproductive health care.
• Met with patients seeking IVF treatments to urge passage of bill protecting access to IVF, urging GOP colleagues to pass the measure: “I would much prefer that they join us and join me in codifying Americans’ right to start a family on their own terms.” Every Republican senator voted against the IVF access expansion bill.
• Voiced opposition to anti-LGBTQ bills banning transgender women and girls from sports teams that match their gender identity. Responding to Gov. Tony Evers’ support of transgender kids, Baldwin said, “Trans kids deserve to feel safe and welcome in Wisconsin, not discriminated against. They deserve the freedom to just be kids, play sports, and get the health care they need, all without politicians butting in.”
• Condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to side with a graphic artist seeking to decline same-sex couples who request her wedding website development services. The artist had never been asked by a same-sex couple to create a website.
• Praised the FDA’s decision to update their discriminatory policies affecting the ability for gay and bi men to donate blood, and, along with several Democratic and Independent members of congress, called on the Department of Health and Human Services and FDA to update their discriminatory policies in wake of a national blood crisis.
• Joined 117 Democratic and Independent members of Congress in calling for President Biden to provide adequate funding for global LGBTQ rights.
• Appeared on ABC News’ Pride Speaker Series in 2019 to discuss LGBTQ rights in Wisconsin. “I will say there’s some surprises from Wisconsin, especially as it affects the LGBTQ community,” said Sen. Baldwin. “Would you believe to enact a law protecting gay and lesbian people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, and accommodations in 1982 … and that it was signed by a republican governor?” The law Sen. Baldwin alluded to, Assembly Bill 70, earned Wisconsin the distinction of becoming the nation’s “first Gay Rights State.”
• Became the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the U.S. Senate (2012), and the first woman from Wisconsin elected to the U.S. Senate.

Eric Hovde (R)

• Joined by anti-LGBTQ political commentator Ben Shapiro for a series of campaign events. At a roundtable discussion with Moms for Liberty, Hovde spoke out against Title IX protections for transgender students. Community members also used the opportunity to express their discomfort. Said one panelist: “The boys in that locker room were very uncomfortable having her (a transgender student) stare at them while they were taking off their clothes.” Hovde said that schools are “pushing social agendas” rather than teaching the basics like reading and writing. Speaking with a local CBS affiliate after the event, Hovde suggested transgender students’ rights should not come at the expense of others. “Just because you have one boy who is transitioning to a girl it doesn’t outweigh all the rights of all the females.” Speaking later in Oshkosh, WI, Hovde compared the Biden-Harris Administration’s America to The Twilight Zone, and said, “We have literally flipped the moral compass upside down.” 
• Called Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Tammy Baldwin “extreme” and suggested they support “transgender therapy for minors without parental consent.
• Released campaign ads calling Tammy Baldwin’s record “radical” for “funding a Madison clinic where minors get transgender therapy without parents’ consent” and “allowing” transgender participation in sports.
• Slammed Vice President Harris, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for supporting “transgender ideology for kids.” Terms like “transgender ideology” are used only by opponents of transgender people to diminish their authentic identity.
• Delivered remarks at the Log Cabin Republicans Big Tent Event, during the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee. Hovde reiterated many of the same anti-transgender talking points put forward by RNC speakers, noting that he believes: “Men shouldn’t be playing girls sports — period.”
• Spoke at the RNC, and in an appearance on the right wing Dan O’Donnell Show from the RNC, described other RNC speakers as “the grandfather,” “the Black woman,” and “the Hispanic woman.”
• Answered questions from “Gays Against Groomers,” an extremist organization that uses false and harmful language to demonize transgender people and their allies. Said Hovde, “I do not agree with men competing in female sports. … To think that we’re gonna allow males to go into female bathrooms, I think it’s fundamentally wrong.” At another event, Hovde said, “We don’t allow our children to drive an automobile until they’re 16. … We don’t allow our young people to vote until 18. We don’t allow our young people to drink alcohol until 21. And yet we’re allowing children 11, 12, 13 … to be transgender. Do you realize the highest rate of suicide in our country today are young people that went through a transgender? [sic]” However, The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People shows that LGBTQ youth who are threatened or subjected to conversion therapy are more likely to commit suicide.
• Used staffers from his real estate company, without disclosure, in a campaign ad. In the video, staffers complained that “progressive lefties are really messing up our country with their crazy ideas,” like “letting boys play in girls’ sports.”
• Restoration PAC, a financial supporter of Hovde’s campaign and extremist anti-LGBTQ groups, ran a false ad against Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s health care record, claiming she had used cuts to Medicare funding to establish electric vehicle subsidies. Restoration PAC “is funded by megadonor Richard Uihlein,” owner of ULINE packaging, and his wife.
• Attacked incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin on her efforts to secular federal funding aimed at providing counseling services for homeless youth. “She actually earmarked, in the last budget, $400,000 for a transgender-affirming clinic that doesn’t even tell parents that they’re doing that, with their own kids,” said Hovde. “Now think of that, I mean, this is how far out there she is.” Baldwin’s office previously noted this is not the case, and that the earmarked $400,000 “can only be used for mental health services and counseling for kids experiencing homelessness.”
• Endorsed former President Donald Trump in his bid for a second term in the White House. Throughout his Presidency and in the years that followed, Trump has pushed an anti-LGBTQ platform. He has and continues to use charged rhetoric that consistently puts the LGBTQ community, and especially transgender and nonbinary people, at risk.
• Spoke alongside Scarlett Johnson, founder of Moms for Liberty’s Ozaukee chapter, at a 2023 “Pints & Politics” event. Johnson has used her social media platforms and speaking appearances to call for book bans and paint the LGBTQ community in a negative light. A lawsuit was filed against Johnson in May, after she criticized a school for hiring a social justice coordinator.
• Endorsed and provided funding for Leah Vukmir, who challenged Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s seat in the U.S. Senate in 2018. Vukmir had “a history of trying to dismantle gay rights including through sponsoring a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage and civil unions.”
• Labeled the Madison Metropolitan School District a “train wreck” while disparaging gender-neutral bathrooms. “We got to such an absurd level at the end of Obama’s presidency that the big issue was transsexual bathrooms, what?” he said. “You are talking less than .4% of the public, and you’re talking about forcing every municipality and school district to create a unisex bathroom.”
• Described marriage as “between a man and a woman.” In a 2012 interview, Hovde said, “if you look at the history of marriage, it comes from the church, and I don’t think it’s the government’s position to come in and impose upon religion and tell them how they should believe or what they have to accept. I mean, that’s our First Amendment. It’s freedom of religion, it’s not freedom from religion, it’s freedom of religion. So, when people get married, they’ve always, through history, in front of God in a church. That is the church right to dictate and decide on what they feel is acceptable. So, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And saying that, I don’t believe in discriminating against anyone, whether you’re gay or whatever. I don’t believe in any form of discrimination. But I do fundamentally marriage is between a man and a woman.”

Additional Information

Approximately 207,000 LGBTQ people 13+ live in Wisconsin, and 29% of LGBTQ people 25+ in Wisconsin are raising children. Through the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, LGBTQ residents are protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The act, however, “does not explicitly prohibit gender identity or transgender status discrimination.” Only 21% of Wisconsin’s population is protected based on gender identity, with 12% partially protected. In addition, a 2020 ban on conversion therapy was overturned by Wisconsin Republicans in 2023. Currently, only a handful of cities offer protections against the harmful practice, protecting 24% of the state’s population.

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