Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin announces reelection bid in Wisconsin

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) announced Wednesday she is seeking a third term in 2024, the latest battleground incumbent to announce plans for reelection as Democrats seek to maintain their narrow Senate majority on a daunting 2024 map.

“I’m committed to making sure that working people, not just the big corporations and ultrawealthy, have a fighter on their side,” Baldwin said in a statement. “With so much at stake, from families struggling with rising costs to a ban on reproductive freedom, Wisconsinites need someone who can fight and win.”

Her plans were first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and confirmed by Baldwin’s campaign. She will visit Eau Claire, Wis., on Wednesday for an event focused on workforce development, part of an ongoing “Delivering for Wisconsin” statewide tour.

The reference to abortion access in Baldwin’s statement signaled her plans to campaign in part on an issue that has galvanized many to vote for Democratic candidates in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the constitutional right to an abortion. The issue has resonated in recent elections in Wisconsin, including in a recent high-profile judicial race.

Wisconsin is potentially one of Republicans’ more promising pickup opportunities next year, when Democrats are defending far more Senate seats, including in battleground states. But Baldwin’s decision gives her party a tested competitor for the race who has shown an ability to withstand formidable Republican challenges.

The Republican Senate campaign arm sought to link Baldwin to President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y). NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday morning that Baldwin is ‘not a senator Wisconsin can count on.”

In 2012, Baldwin became the first openly gay person elected to the Senate and the first woman to represent Wisconsin in the upper chamber of Congress. She defeated a four-term Republican governor, Tommy Thompson, in the race for the open seat.

She won reelection in 2018 by more than 10 percentage points. But Democrats fell short of gaining the state’s other Senate seat, a top target, in the midterms last November.

In that race, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson won a third term, after an unsuccessful challenge from Democrat Mandela Barnes, the now-former lieutenant governor. Johnson won by fewer than 30,000 votes, in the same cycle that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers won reelection by more than 90,000 votes.

Democrats scored a key victory last week, when liberals claimed control of the state Supreme Court, giving them a one-vote majority ahead of likely decisions on the state’s abortion ban, gerrymandered legislative districts, and the 2024 presidential race.

Democratic-backed Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated Republican-backed Daniel Kelly by 11 points, in what was the most expensive judicial contest in history at more than $40 million.

Protasiewicz and her Democratic allies centered the race around Wisconsin’s 1849 ban of almost all abortions that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The state court is expected to overturn the ban, with the new liberal majority, in the next year or two.

Baldwin’s campaign also plans to emphasize abortion in the race, and last month she reintroduced the Women’s Health Protection Act — a bill that would guarantee access to abortion nationwide.

So far, no Republicans have declared their intent to challenge Baldwin.