WATERTOWN, Wis. — A third-party Wisconsin Senate candidate says it’s rotten that Democrats are targeting right-leaning voters with misleading messages to get them to vote for him over Republican challenger Eric Hovde.
Libertarian candidate Phillip Anderson told The Post he did not send the mailers his supporters received over the weekend and suspects they’re part of a larger effort to pull votes away from Hovde.
“I think it is a desperate, disgusting, dishonest move,” Anderson said. “Well-informed voters are the key to a functioning democracy, and while the ads didn’t lie, they’re not honest as to intent. Further, the internet ad has a fake disclaimer, and the mailer has none at all. Highly unethical.”
Anderson said he’s heard from voters in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Oshkosh since Saturday who’ve received a flyer in the mail urging voters to call Anderson and “tell him to keep standing up for our conservative principles.” The mailers do not contain a political disclaimer about who’s behind them.
Neil Harmon is an Anderson supporter who confirmed he received the mailer. The West Allis medication-access specialist called him up and was surprised to find out the Senate candidate hadn’t sent the flyer.
“I was kind of shocked, but I know sometimes there are political shenanigans going on.”
Harmon, 45, whose top issue is the economy, said he plans to vote Tuesday for Anderson in the Senate race and Donald Trump in the presidential.
Jordan Hansen, 30, said he received the mailer Friday and, since he knows Anderson, was pretty certain the mailer was not from the Libertarian candidate, particularly since it portrayed Anderson as “standing up for our conservative principles.”
“[Phil] is running to advocate for libertarian principles, not conservative principles,” Hansen told The Post.
Hansen said he was a little amused because someone was clearly spending money trying to take votes away from Hovde but “pretty pissed” that the mysterious sender did not follow the legal disclaimer rules while trying to make it look like an Anderson campaign mailer.
Hansen, a press-brake operator from Oshkosh, said he plans to vote for Chase Oliver in the presidential election; his top issue is US intervention in foreign affairs. Hansen believes the two major-party presidential candidates “both want to meddle in international affairs,” although they have different approaches.
“A lot of issues pale in comparison to wars.”
The mailers come after what appears to be a YouTube ad campaign from Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s campaign that purports to give voters “the facts” in the Senate race.
Anderson said his voters are libertarians and “anyone who recognizes the corrupt oppressive nature of the two-party system and opposes it.”
The Fitchburg, Wis., native said his broad coalition includes those of all political stripes, from “MAGA folks who see through Hovde” to peace activists and Green Party, Constitution Party and Tea Party voters.
Anderson has run for office multiple times, garnering 3%, or more than 87,000 votes, statewide in the 2016 Senate race.
The Democrats are not taking any chances in this Senate election. The Associated Press reported Democratic operatives recruited “America First” Senate candidate Thomas Leager to siphon votes from Hovde.
The Marquette Law School Poll’s final pre-election release put Baldwin at 49%, Hovde at 47%, Anderson at 2% and Leager at 1%. Baldwin leads at 51% to Hovde’s 49% among likely voters when independent candidates are not included. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 4.4 percentage points.
The Baldwin and Hovde campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
