Nearly 2 weeks post-election, Eric Hovde concedes in US Senate race

MADISON Wis. (CBS 58) -- Nearly two weeks after the election, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde has conceded after his narrow defeat in Wisconsin.

In a six-minute video posted on "X", Hovde said "it's time to move on" and acknowledge his defeat after previously leaving open the possibility of a recount.

"A request for recount would serve no purpose because it would be recounting the same ballots regardless of their integrity," Hovde said. "As a result, and my desire to not add to political strife through a contentious recount, I've decided to concede the election."

For a second time, Hovde spread misleading claims about his election defeat such as pointing blame at the City of Milwaukee for late-night tallies of absentee ballots. Milwaukee finished counting over 100,000 ballots around 4 a.m. which ultimately gave Baldwin enough votes to take the lead over Hovde.  

Hovde also continued to partially blame his loss on Thomas Leager, a third-party candidate on the ballot who ran on an American First slogan. Leager disputed Hovde's claims he was a "plant" by Democrats to try and take votes from him in an interview with CBS 58. 

The Republican multimillionaire businessman also said he's unsure what his political future holds. Hovde added he will take a "much-needed break." 

Last week, Hovde broke his silence for the first time after the Associated Press called the race for Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin the day after the election. Baldwin won by 29,116 votes or 0.9 percentage points, according to unofficial results.

Hovde was within the vote margin to request a recount, however he would have had to pay for it.