GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV)-- Eric Hovde rolled into Green Bay on his statewide bus tour Thursday.

Hovde stopped at Lambeau, where he greeted a few supporters and talked with reporters.

He's feeling confident after this week's polls, saying the race is now down to himself versus Thompson.

"I think it's been a two horse race for the last few months, it's a good challenge now, it's me and Tommy, I don't want to disregard Jeff, but it's pretty much turned into a two-man race," Hovde said.

Hovde was virtually unknown until he began a television ad blitz a few months ago. The wealthy business man has spent about $4 million so far trying to get elected, and it's working, two recent polls show him gaining in popularity.

"I come from the private sector, I've been blessed and fortunate in life, I've been successful and I can take that skill set and bring it to Washington," Hovde said.

Hovde is from Madison. He moved back to Wisconsin last year after spending 24 years working as a hedge fund manager in Washington.

He calls himself a Washington outsider, and strongly criticizes career politicians, attacking opponent Tommy Thompson for being one.

Hovde is on an eight-day statewide bus tour to try and meet more voters, he said his number one priority is the economy, and that's what he wants voters to know.

"We need to get rid of all this corporate welfare, that's distorting our tax system, that's putting the burden on small business we got to free up our regulatory environment," said Hovde, "most importantly we have to deal with our debt."

A couple protesters were at his Lambeau stop, criticizing Hovde's lack of disclosure when it came to his finances. Democrats from the state party are calling on him to release his tax returns.

"If you think you want to be the US senator from Wisconsin you need to be straight with the people here about whether you shelter your money whether you run tax shelters for other 1 per centers or whether you pay your fair share," said Deb Stover, communications director for the Brown County Democrats.

Responding to the criticism about his finances, and dodging taxes, Hovde had this to say, "that's outlandish, beyond outlandish, I'm at one of the very highest tax rates across the board."

Tommy Thompson and Mark Neumann campaigned in other areas of the state Thursday.

Local Five news spoke with Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, also running in the Republican primary. That  entire interview will be on our Sunday morning political show.