With Milwaukee Absentees, Baldwin Narrowly Edges Hovde

Senator Tammy Baldwin speaking at Old Main groundbreaking on September 20th, 2019. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Tammy Baldwin is headed back to the U.S. Senate.

Before the city of Milwaukee absentee ballots were uploaded, the New York Times tracker showed Baldwin trailing Republican challenger Eric Hovde by 55,018 votes, 1,594,771 to 1,539,753.

But Baldwin added 70,979 more votes than Hovde from the city’s 108,325 absentee ballots. She leads Hovde by 15,961 votes. The only major source of ballots known to be outstanding is the City of Oak Creek‘s absentee ballots, an estimated group of more than 12,000.

“It is clear that the voters have spoken and our campaign has won,” said Baldwin in a statement as the Milwaukee results were released. “The people of Wisconsin have chosen someone who always puts Wisconsin first, someone who shows up, listens, and works with everyone to get the job done. And they rejected the billionaires and the special interests who want to come to our state, spread hate and division, and buy their way into power. I am proud to head back to the Senate as we embrace our state motto, Forward, and keep fighting for the workers, farmers, and families that make our state great. From the bottom of my heart, it is an honor to serve the people of Wisconsin.”

Baldwin, a two-term senator, was engaged in a competitive, expensive race with Hovde. Baldwin dogged Hovde for his California home, while Hovde repeatedly attacked the finances of Baldwin’s girlfriend in DC.

As she did in 2018, Baldwin outran other Democrats on the ticket. That included presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who lost the state and presidency to Donald Trump.

The Milwaukee Election Commission, led by Paulina Gutiérrez, delivered its USB drives with its 108,325 absentee ballots to the Milwaukee County Election Commission at approximately 3:15 a.m. With a police escort and a bipartisan commission board in tow, Gutierrez provided the drives from the city’s central count operation at the Baird Center. Milwaukee County completed uploading the results around 4:30 a.m.

Approximately 40 Wisconsin municipalities use a central count absentee ballot tallying operation. The strategy, counting all of the absentees in one location, provides security and staffing efficiencies, but is often slower given state restrictions on processing ballots before polls open on election day. Poll workers must sort, review, open, flatten and process absentee ballots. But the total number of ballots is known. The City of Milwaukee, before Tuesday, was projecting to have at least 105,000 ballots and had issued approximately 113,000 ballots. It’s final total, including ballots received on election day, reached 108,325 and was announced before midnight.

Baldwin will return to the U.S. Senate in the minority. In addition to the presidency, Republicans picked up senate seats in other states.