Thomas Leager is running for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. He claims ties to Whitmer plot.

Republican businessman Eric Hovde was baffled why a guy named Thomas Leager was running as a U.S. Senate candidate for the America First Party.

Then it all came together for Hovde, who is taking on Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin this fall.

"The Democrats have put on the ballot for the Senate race a candidate who's under the brand 'America First,'" Hovde told conservative talker Jay Weber on WISN-AM (1310) on July 22. "I was like, 'Who the hell is this?' Well, we finally did the investigation. It's a Democrat plant to try to siphon off votes from me."

Hovde concluded that Democrats "will stop at no level to hold on to power," including putting Leager on the ballot. The GOP candidate ripped the media for not reporting on these political hijinks.

Interesting, huh? Except Leager said Hovde is peddling pure fiction.

"That's absolutely not true," Leager said.

So what is the deal?

First, Leager, 37, is to the right — far, far to the right — of Hovde and most everyone else. A former lobbyist for the Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc., he said people call some of his ideas "extreme."

Leager says the government named him an unindicted co-conspirator to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer

But here's the real kicker. Leager claimed he was an unindicted co-conspirator in the failed plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer back in 2020 with the hope of overthrowing the state government. The scheme received widespread attention as an example of domestic terrorism shortly before the last presidential contest.

Leager does not appear to be mentioned by name in any of the criminal complaints. But he said he was on the witness list for two of the federal trials. He said he had planned to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself to avoid getting indicted, but he never had to testify.

In the end, 14 men were charged criminally in state or federal court in the case. Nine were convicted, and five were cleared.

Leager said he knew many of the people involved in the case, including Barry Croft, the accused bomb-maker. Croft once called from jail to appear on Leager's podcast, "The Free Men Report," to profess his innocence shortly before a key court hearing to decide which evidence would be shown to jurors.

In 2022, Croft was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in federal prison for his role in the kidnapping plot, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and possessing an unregistered destructive device

"As a 2A (Second Amendment) activist, you get to know many types of gun owners," Leager said.

Leager said he has never been a member of a militia group, such as the radical Wolverine Watchmen, though he was in some meetings with a few of those involved in the Whitmer conspiracy. But he said he was not involved in the plot, having credited divine intervention in a Buzzfeed story for his decision to miss a key meeting.

"I never heard any talk about kidnapping a governor," he said.

As for the Senate race, he has been highly critical of Baldwin and Democrats.

"Everything I stand for is completely the opposite of Tammy Baldwin," Leager told the Journal Sentinel.

Among other things, Leager is calling for abolishing the FBI, closing the borders, eliminating the federal income tax, halting all foreign aid until the U.S. debt is under $100 million, passing a constitutional amendment recognizing fetuses as legal persons, bringing troops home and protecting children from "radical gender theory."

Leager protested COVID lockdowns, defended Kyle Rittenhouse

He also helped lead rallies opposing the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and defended Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse's right to defend himself.

Got all that?

"Thomas Leager is a MAGA extremist who has no place in the U.S. Senate," said Arik Wolk, rapid response director for the state Democratic Party.

Baldwin campaign spokesman Andrew Mamo said Baldwin doesn't know Leager and had no role in getting him to run against her: "This is not a friend of Tammy's."

Leaguer criticizes Eric Hovde as a 'neo-con'

Leager is no fan of Hovde's either. He said he views the Madison banker and real estate mogul as a "neo-con" who is reluctant to state his policy positions. He said Hovde "doesn't have a record to run on," even though he has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Still, there is one other issue that Leager needs to explain. In his campaign report, he listed in-kind donations to Urban Media for collecting signatures to get him on the ballot. In the past, Baldwin and other Democrats have paid Urban Media for a variety of services, federal records show.

Is this a smoking gun showing Dems and Leager are working together?

Leager said he didn't know anything about Urban Media; those encouraging him to run hired the firm and donated the cost of the services to his campaign.

State records show Urban Media, which is owned by Milwaukee Black radio and newspaper owner Jerrel Jones, has worked for both Republicans and Democrats in the past, selling ads, providing consulting services and doing other campaign-related work.

Given all that, is Hovde still sticking to his belief that Leager is a Democratic plant? We'll let his team speak for itself:

"A vote for him is a vote for the (Kamala) Harris-Baldwin agenda," said Hovde spokesman Ben Voelkel.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Third-party Wisconsin candidate claims ties to Gretchen Whitmer plot