Last Night’s Senate Debate Showed Baldwin is the Clear Choice for Working People of Wisconsin

Madison, WI—  Senator Tammy Baldwin and GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde held their first and only debate in Madison. The candidates were asked about the cost of living, PFAS contamination, and Wisconsin farmers. Their answers highlighted how only one candidate is putting Wisconsinites first – Senator Tammy Baldwin.

Senator Baldwin has fought to bring in more than $120 million to Wisconsin for water infrastructure upgrades including nearly $3.5 million in funding for the City of Milwaukee’s Clean Water Initiative. Senator Baldwin has also introduced bills aimed at improving water quality and technology, including the Healthy H2O Act and Water Technology Acceleration Act. A bipartisan group of Wisconsin leaders have praised the Senator for her leadership in passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has funded water cleanup investments across Wisconsin.

Last night, Hovde double-down on his opposition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Hovde has recently downplayed the need for lead-pipe efforts removal, despite Wisconsin ranking ninth in the nation with the highest number of lead service lines. According to the EPA, there is no safe level of exposure to lead. MAGA Republicans’s Project 2025 plan could also pose a serious threat to addressing PFAS by restricting protections. Hovde and MAGA Republicans will gut protections to clean Wisconsin’s waters, leaving family and children exposed to toxic chemicals. 

Senator Baldwin cast a key vote in support of the federal clean energy plan, which has helped families save money. In 2023, over 73,000 families in Wisconsin saved $91 million in clean energy tax credits for home projects that will help reduce their monthly electricity bills. As of this summer, Wisconsin families can now save between $1,500 and $10,000 on energy-efficient upgrades thanks to the IRA-funded Home Efficiency Rebates Program.

The federal clean energy plan has also invested millions of dollars in rural Wisconsin, including $7.2 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency grants for agriculture producers and rural small business owners and $573 million for Wisconsin’s Dairyland Power Cooperative.

Meanwhile, Hovde has opposed the federal clean energy plan and called it a “big, ugly bill,” despite pitching his Sunwest Bank clients on “big solar green energy tax credits.”  His bank committed to funding more than $200 million in commercial solar projects annually and pointed to solar credits contained in the bill. 

Wisconsinites have a clear choice: a candidate who is looking out for the needs and well-being or one who is spreading fake information to advance their own self-gaining agenda. 

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