Likely Tammy Baldwin Senate challenger brushes off ‘silly and stupid’ Democratic attacks

Wisconsin Democrats have spent months attempting to define Eric Hovde, the wealthy businessman Republicans hope will challenge Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) next year.

He’s been painted as everything from a California elite in league with the MAGA Right to a cruel real estate developer who plans to bulldoze a cherished hometown bar in Madison.

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Hovde has largely stayed quiet in the face of those attacks, in part because he’s not a declared candidate for Senate. He has no intention of announcing his plans until early next year.

But in a rare statement to the Washington Examiner, Hovde brushed off the portrayal as an act of desperation that will fall flat with Wisconsin voters.

“I find them humorous,” he said of the attacks, leveled by the Wisconsin Democratic Party in a series of press releases and publicity stunts.

Hovde does have ties to California — he owns a bank in the state, plus his reportedly $7 million home in Laguna Beach.

But Hovde is also a household name in Madison, or close to it, due to the real estate company he inherited from his father and grandfather.

Hovde cited his family business and degree from the University of Wisconsin to defend his local roots and, contrary to Democratic claims, insisted he still lives in the state.

Yet Wisconsin Democrats are betting the carpetbagger label will sink his candidacy in a state where races are regularly decided by fewer than 20,000 votes.

Hovde appears unconcerned. “Hopefully, they waste a lot of time and energy trying to tie me to California,” he said.

As for the other attacks — Democrats have, among other claims, linked him to former President Donald Trump for his views on Obamacare — Hovde dismissed them as “silly and stupid.”

“Most of them are lies,” he said. “Obviously, they are very worried, given I haven’t even announced anything.”

Hovde isn’t the only Republican Wisconsin Democrats are targeting. Businessman Scott Mayer and ex-Sheriff David Clarke have also drawn scrutiny as they contemplate a run.

But the overwhelming focus has been on Hovde, whose large bank account has made him a top recruit for national Republicans and a threat to Baldwin as she vies for a third term. Her campaign is already fundraising off his expected entry into the race, warning supporters of his “virtually unlimited campaign war chest.”

GOP operatives believe he’s willing to put eight figures of his own money into a campaign.

Wisconsin Democrats have yet to put real dollars behind their attacks — their needling is so far limited to email blasts and a handful of publicity stunts, including a trip to California to highlight his “luxurious Laguna Beach lifestyle.”

But the decided attention given to Hovde suggests Democrats view him as Baldwin’s likely challenger in 2024.

If national Republicans get their way, he will be. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has already come out in support of Hovde, and those close to him put the odds he runs at 95%.

He could face a primary challenge from either Mayer or Clarke, but conventional wisdom is that Wisconsin Republicans will avoid a contested primary if at all possible after repeated losses in statewide races.

More importantly, the attacks speak to Democrats’ desire to define Hovde long before he enters the race.

Hovde is taking advantage of the late filing deadline in Wisconsin, as he did in 2012, when he announced a competitive but unsuccessful run in the Republican Senate primary that March.

It’s not the first time Hovde has responded to Democrats’ attacks. He projected the same nonchalant attitude when the party followed him around with a mobile billboard displaying a cartoon Hovde lounging in a beach chair.

“C’mon Dems, if you’re gonna park this truck outside my building, can you at least give me bigger muscles?” he posted on X in September, alongside a picture of himself in front of the billboard. “My pipes are a lot bigger than this guy’s.”

Hovde has largely stayed out of the media spotlight, however, instead testing the waters with appearances at a handful of conservative events. In November, he spoke at a “Pints and Politics” forum hosted by Moms for Liberty and sponsored an event featuring Tucker Carlson just outside of Milwaukee a couple of days later.

Baldwin did a string of campaign events in November marking one year until Election Day, but national Republicans have not given her a pass even as she navigates what is so far an open field.

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The NRSC has already launched ads targeting Baldwin and other vulnerable Democrats for their voting record, most recently her support for the Iran nuclear deal, and signaled it will attempt to define her as a puppet of President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings are underwater nationally.

“After 30 years in politics, Tammy Baldwin now spends her time in the Senate rubber-stamping the failed Biden agenda that’s created higher prices, rising crime, and open borders,” NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell said in a statement.