Hovde enters US Senate race against Baldwin

Republican businessman Eric Hovde officially launched a U.S. Senate bid Tuesday, the first major challenger to Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin in a pivotal battleground race.

Hovde’s announcement focused on the economy, crime and the border.

“Politicians in large part don’t understand how an economy works and certainly not our modern financial economy. We need economic competency brought to Washington D.C. and we have to stop driving ourselves deeper and deeper and deeper into debt,” Hovde said.

Hovde previously ran for the Senate in 2012. He lost in the Republican primary to former Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin defeated Thompson that year, winning 51.5 percent of the vote. She went on to win re-election in 2018 by 11 points. She is now seeking her third term. 

Re-electing Baldwin is a top priority for Democrats if they hope to retain their majority in the Senate. Democrats are defending 23 seats, including two held by independents who caucus with Democrats. Republicans are defending only 10 seats. 

In his prior race, Hovde ran as an opponent of the abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act. He said he favored a “private sector approach” for Medicare and called for raising the age for seniors receiving Social Security benefits. 

Hovde made no mention of social issues or of reforming entitlements in his announcement speech. Instead, he spoke about the U.S. southern border.

“We have brought in 9 to 12 million people in the last three years into this country illegally. We don’t have the housing nor the medical services and infrastructure to care for our own citizens. Much less 9 to 12 million people. That’s basically double Wisconsin in three years,” he said.

 Democrats have signaled they will target Hovde’s record in the campaign ahead. 

“California bank owner Eric Hovde is running for Senate to impose his self-serving agenda, putting ultra rich people like himself ahead of middle-class Wisconsinites,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin rapid response director Arik Wolk said in a statement. “Hovde would vote to pass a national abortion ban, raise taxes on working families and seniors while cutting Social Security and Medicare, and repeal the Affordable Care Act.”

Hovde responded to that rhetoric in his announcement.

“Now, if I may address Senator Baldwin,” he said.

“For the last nine months, you and your Democratic allies have been playing a lot of silly games, sending protestors to my house, making up lies, playing a lot of dirty tactics. I’m gonna tell you, I’m not gonna stoop to that level,” he continued. “But what I will do is I will hold you accountable.”

In a campaign launch video, Hovde asks if it feels “like America is slipping away.” He goes on to name “our economy, our health care, crime and open borders” as issues he will run on. A campaign spokesperson for Baldwin noted that Hovde “doesn’t mention Wisconsin a single time in his ad.” 

Hovde is a Madison native. He attended Madison East High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison before moving to Washington, D.C. He returned to Madison in 2011, after living in D.C. for 24 years. 

His business empire includes Hovde properties, a real estate development company his grandfather founded in 1933. He is the CEO of Sunwest Bank and owns a $7 million estate in Laguna Beach, California, in addition to his property in Madison. 

Hovde’s father served in the Reagan administration as undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

The latest Marquette University Law School Poll showed 42 percent of respondents had a favorable view of Baldwin, while 45 percent were unfavorable. Hovde barely registered in name identification, with 7 percent favorable, 9 percent unfavorable and 88 percent said they hadn’t heard enough about him. 

Other Republicans are also considering Senate runs, including Franklin businessman Scott Mayer and former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Other high profile Republicans passed on the race, including Reps. Tom Tiffany and Mike Gallagher.