Baldwin adds her name to the list of Senate Dem incumbents running for reelection
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin announced she will run for re-election in a state that will play a significant role in whether President Biden wins a second term or Senate Democrats hold their slim majority.
“Wisconsin’s working families deserve a Senator who’s going to fight for them — not shady special interests or big corporations,” she said in a tweet. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but the stakes have never been higher and our work isn’t over yet.”
The Badger State has been in the news in recent days after voters elected Janet Protasiewicz to the state’s Supreme Court in a decisive victory that will shape the future of abortion rights and likely lead to the undoing of Wisconsin’s gerrymandered legislative maps.
Baldwin joins a group of incumbent Senate Democrats who have already announced their reelection bids, including Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana are also running but will do so in states that Biden lost in 2020.
The verdict is still out on if Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona will run, although the WSJ reported that she is preparing behind the scenes for another campaign, which could split the vote between Democratic and Independent voters and offer a path for Republicans to flip a seat in a competitive state. Supercreator has not independently confirmed this reporting.
Then there’s Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another state that Biden lost in ‘20, who has repeatedly said he’ll announce his plans for the future at the end of the year. Senate Democrats would be thrilled if he ran for reelection, despite his role in shrinking much of the party’s agenda the past two years.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan plans to retire at the end of her term. Rep. Elissa Slotkin is viewed as the frontrunner as the Democratic establishment has worked to clear the field for her to succeed Stabenow.