MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde conceded defeat Monday to Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin in their U.S. Senate race. He said he will not request a recount after previously admitting he lost but putting forward several debunked election conspiracies.
Hovde could have requested a recount because his margin of defeat was less than 1 percentage point, around 29,000 votes. But Hovde said he wouldn’t do that. He would have had to pay for a recount himself.
Baldwin declared victory after The Associated Press called the race for her on November 6. She outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost Wisconsin by about the same number of votes as Baldwin defeated Hovde.
Hovde released a video last week in which he raised several debunked claims of election impropriety, all of which were refuted by Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan election officials. Later that day he admitted in a radio interview that he had lost, but he still did not concede.
In a new video Monday in which he conceded, Hovde said getting to the bottom of concerns about the legitimacy of the vote would not have been found in a warrantless recount.
Baldwin’s victory came despite Democrats’ national losses, allowing Republicans to take control of the Senate.
Her victory was the smallest of her three Senate races. Baldwin won by almost 6 percentage points in 2012 and by almost 11 points in 2018.
Hovde, a multimillionaire bank owner and real estate developer, first ran for Senate in 2012 but lost in the Republican primary. He was endorsed by newly elected President Donald Trump this year and poured millions of dollars of his own money into his campaign.
