Senate Majority PAC drops $2 million ad hitting Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde

A leading Democratic super PAC is up with a $2 million ad buy attempting to paint newly declared Wisconsin Senate GOP candidate Eric Hovde as an out-of-state California banker.

“Multi-millionaire California banker Eric Hovde: On Wisconsin's side?” the ad, shared exclusively with POLITICO and airing statewide in Wisconsin, asks. “Don't bank on it.”

The campaign, run by Senate Majority PAC, comes just days after Hovde officially announced his bid to unseat two-term Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in a critical race for control of the upper chamber.

“No matter how many bizarre videos he posts online, Wisconsin voters will see Hovde for the out of touch carpetbagger that he really is,” said Senate Majority PAC President JB Poersch in a statement.

Baldwin last won reelection in 2018 by an 11-point margin over Republican Leah Vukmir, even as President Joe Biden bested former President Donald Trump by less than a point in Wisconsin during the 2020 presidential race.

Republicans took notice of the unusually early ad buy from the Democratic-aligned group.

“How bad are @TammyBaldwin and @SenSchumer panicking about @EricHovde?” asked Mike Berg, spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Schumer just laid down a TV buy starting tomorrow.”

Ally Mutnick contributed to this report.