Baldwin unveils first ad in Wisconsin Senate battle

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) released her first ad of her reelection campaign as she seeks her third term representing Wisconsin in the Senate. 

The ad, released Tuesday, shows workers from Wisconsin talking about building steel parts that contribute to bridges, ships and rockets being launched into space, but China “lowballing” their prices makes competition tough. 

Baldwin then discusses her sponsoring of a law enacted during the Trump administration that requires federally funded infrastructure projects in the United States use iron and steel from inside the country. 

“Tammy Baldwin got President Trump to sign her ‘Made in America’ bill,” one worker says. 

“And then she got President Biden to make it permanent,” another one responds. 

The bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed into effect in 2021 included Baldwin’s Build America, Buy America Act, which made the requirement for using steel and iron from the U.S. permanent. It also expanded the original law to include other materials like copper, plastic, concrete and glass. 

“Tammy Baldwin has our back,” one worker concludes. 

The ad came out just one day before her likely Republican opponent for the seat, Eric Hovde, released his first ad of the campaign. 

In the ad, his wife, Sharon Hovde, talks about her husband, noting he graduated from the University of Wisconsin, built up numerous companies and started a foundation focused on addressing homelessness and children facing abuse, sex trafficking and slavery. 

The ad came after Hovde faced attacks over his ties to the state, with critics emphasizing his business connections to California. 

Sharon Hovde says in the ad that her husband is a “man of integrity — principled, honest and straightforward.” 

“These are the qualities I want in a U.S. senator to fight for Wisconsin. How about you?” she says.