Wisconsin Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin Launches Bid for 3rd Term

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) speaks during a conference in Scotland on Nov. 6, 2021. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin has announced that she will seek reelection in battleground Wisconsin in 2024.

Baldwin, 60, shared the news in an April 12 statement.

“It’s official: I’m running for reelection!” the two-term senator shared via Twitter. “Wisconsin’s working families deserve a Senator who’s going to fight for them—not shady special interests or big corporations. We’ve made a lot of progress, but the stakes have never been higher and our work isn’t over yet.”

Baldwin won her first local election at age 24. In 1998, she became the first woman from Wisconsin to be elected to the House of Representatives, and in 2012, she earned the same distinction in the Senate.

In recent days, Baldwin has been a vocal proponent of codifying abortion as a right nationwide, providing paid leave for military members seeking abortions, and banning “military-style assault weapons.”

“Nobody works harder for Wisconsin families than Tammy Baldwin,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said on April 12, celebrating Baldwin’s announcement via Twitter.

“No Republican is officially running yet,” he added. “But we know the Wisconsin GOP. You can bet it’ll be a MAGA extremist.”

The Wisconsin Republican Party, on the other hand, responded to the senator’s reelection bid with disdain, noting that she had spent her “entire career on government payroll” and linking her policies to those of President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings have sunk to nearly the lowest point of his presidency, according to recent polling.

“Today, @tammybaldwin announced her reelection bid,” the Wisconsin GOP said in a Twitter post. “Wisconsinite’s [sic] won’t forget Baldwin has been in lockstep with Biden & his inflationary spending agenda every step of the way.”

Potential GOP Opponent

Although no Republicans have announced a challenge to Baldwin yet, speculation has begun to swirl that fourth-term U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, 39, might fill that void.

A Marine Corps veteran representing Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District, Gallagher chairs the House Select Committee on China and, as such, has been outspoken in his belief that the biggest threat facing the United States is the Chinese Communist Party.

In March, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told Politico that Gallagher would be “a great candidate” to flip Baldwin’s seat.

“He’s the kind of candidate that, with his distinguished service and then time in Congress, could win both the primary and general election,” Daines said.

However, Gallagher has also established himself as a critic of former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach—a fact that could be detrimental to a potential Senate bid given the 45th president’s high popularity within the Republican Party and his current status as the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate.

When asked April 12 about a potential Senate campaign, a spokesperson for Gallagher referenced the congressman’s comments in March that he was too busy with committee affairs to think about 2024.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.