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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who describes himself as “outside (the RNC’s) establishment circle,” ranked first among four potential Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling.

The poll, done June 5-6, 2023, surveyed 507 likely Republican primary voters in Wisconsin. No Republican candidate has yet entered the 2024 race against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

The poll asked:

“If the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate next year were Sheriff David Clarke, Mike Gallagher, Eric Hovde and Tom Tiffany, who would you vote for?”

Gallagher and Tiffany are congressmen; Hovde is a businessman.

The results:

Clarke: 40%

Not sure: 27%

Gallagher: 20%

Tiffany: 10%

Hovde: 3%

Gallagher announced June 9 he would not run for Senate. Tiffany has said he would decide on a run by August; Hovde has said he would decide by November.

North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling is among the nation’s leading polling organizations. It is “Democratically aligned,” according to Ballotpedia.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Public Policy Polling Wisconsin Survey Results | June 5-6, 2023 (Q15)

Axios GOP Rep. Gallagher passes on Wisconsin Senate bid

FiveThirtyEight Pollster Ratings | Public Policy Polling

WisPolitics Republicans favor Trump in new PPP poll

Ballotpedia Public Policy Polling

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Tom Kertscher joined as a Wisconsin Watch fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has worked as a self-employed journalist since 2019. His gigs include contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.