Republican challenger Eric Hovde officially conceded the race for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin to Democrat incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Monday.
In a video posted on social platform X, Hovde said that, despite "the last-minute absentee ballots that were dropped in Milwaukee at 4 a.m.," he ultimately decided against requesting a recount because "without a detailed review of all the ballots and their legitimacy, which will be difficult to obtain in the courts, a request for a recount would serve no purpose, because you will just be recounting the same ballots, regardless of their integrity."
The businessman said he did not wish to "add to political strife through a contentious recount" and so "decided to concede the election."
"Obviously the outcome is not what I had hoped for, but I do not regret entering this race," he said, noting that "the issues I have raised have resonated with many."
Hovde, who lost to Baldwin by 29,111 votes, said that the overnight absentee ballot drop caused the race to flip in the Democrat's favor, and many Hovde supporters questioned the surge in support for the incumbent. Evidence of wrongdoing has not been uncovered in the Wisconsin election.
The Associated Press declared Baldwin the winner of the race the day after the election, with unofficial results showing she won with 49.4% of the vote to Hovde's 48.5%.
Hovde said that the tactics used against him in the Senate race were "disheartening."
"Before I even entered, protesters were sent to my home [and] phony lawsuits were launched against my companies," he said in the video. "Millions were spent on ads making false claims about where I'm from and live, what I've said, and what I've done."
"Sen. Baldwin's campaign focused on getting voters to hate me, even claiming I was a Californian who wanted to take seniors' Social Security away, pass a national abortion ban, and ban beer — none of which are remotely true," Hovde said.
He also lamented the current political system, which he described as "broken," and said that instead of addressing voter concerns, campaigns are now about "raising money, often from special interest groups, and launching attack ads."
"Equally concerning is the large segments of the press that don't care to fact-check these lies and even help propagate misinformation to protect their preferred candidates," Hovde said. "Our country desperately needs campaign reform to hold campaigns accountable for what they say and to provide better transparency on outside groups' funding and activities."
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