In a tight Senate race in Wisconsin, Republicans are pouring money into GOP nominee Eric Hovdes campaign for ads targeting incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and her longtime partner.Asked by CNN whether she believed Hovde is trying to remind voters that the two-term senator is gay, Baldwin replied, I think he is. Related Ted Cruz falsely calls 2 cis teen girls boys in desperate search for trans athletes to demonize Theyre minors and he used their pictures without their parents permission, seemingly calling them boys in girls sports. After a failed strategy trying to compete with Baldwin on the issues, Hovde turned to tactics intended to galvanize his base and move the needle. Polls show theyre having an effect. Baldwin sat on a comfortable lead for most of the race, but Hovde has narrowed her margin to two points, according to the latest polls. Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024 Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The ads use Baldwins longtime partner, Maria Brisbane, who runs the Brisbane Group, a private wealth managementdivision of Morgan Stanley, to call Baldwins ethics into question and remind voters along the way that shes gay.Baldwins in bed with Wall Street, a woman sitting in her kitchen saysnot so subtly in oneHovde ad referring to the senators relationship with Brisbane.In others, Brisbane is referred to as Baldwins girlfriend.The ads all share the same dual messages, paid for with a huge influx of cash from Republican party sources and Hovdes own personal fortune.While Democrats will outspend Republicans for the year in the Senate race, Hovde and his allies have booked $51 million on-air from October 1 through Election Day, compared with $39 million for Democrats. Hovdes latest ad uses Baldwins words against her, taken from a 2009 Senate hearing on domestic partner benefits.Married members must file very important information about their spouse income, their investments, gifts, and debts. Surely the public interest would require that these obligations apply also to partners of gay and lesbian office holders, Baldwin says in a clip taken from C-SPAN.But wait, heres Tammy today when asked to disclose the finances of her own partner, the ads narrator says, followed by a quote from Baldwin on stage at a debate with Hovde last week. Baldwin and Brisbane are not married.Stay out of my personal life, Baldwin says bluntly. The senator went on to add a remonstration not included in the clip, addressing reproductive rights: And I think I speak for most Wisconsin women that he should stay out of all of our personal lives, she continued.But the former lawyer has a tough case to make when it comes to financial disclosures concerning her longtime partner. Baldwin told CNN that, unlike a previous domestic partnership she was in, shes not obligated to disclose Brisbanes clients over conflict-of-interest concerns because the two arent in a relationship codified by law. The pair own a condominium in Washington together worth $1.3 million.Baldwin called Hovdes tactics a dog whistle and a distraction from his own financial conflicts as the owner of a $3 billion bank.I disclose everything Im required to, she said. I think hes also trying to distract from his sort of judgmental weaknesses.Think of him on the Banking Committee, setting regulations for banks, she added. I mean, this is a horrifying conflict of interest that I think he wants to deflect attention from.Hovdes ad blitz goes after the transgender community, as well, tying Baldwin to Harris for allowing men to compete in girls sports and funding a clinic that offers transgender therapy to minors without parents consent, a claim proven to be false.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.