This year’s race for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin has increased in intensity, as real estate developer and banker Eric Hovde says he’s running as a Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Hovde isn’t the only Republican making a bid but is the most prominent within GOP circles. A national campaign committee supporting Republican Senate candidates is backing Hovde.
During his campaign kick-off speech on Feb. 20 in Madison, Hovde complained about the federal debt and efforts to reduce funding for police and said too many people are coming into the U.S. at the southern border.
Hovde insisted some of the kids coming in can no longer be accounted for.
“Let me assure you. More than a few of them have ended up being sexually trafficked. I know this all too well. I have homes; my brother and I have homes all over the country, all over the world. And, we have three in Central America that deal with issues like this," Hovde said.
Hovde didn’t take questions from reporters at the event. But a campaign spokesperson later told WUWM that the homes the candidate mentioned are owned by the Hovde Foundation and are so-called safe havens to get children out of trafficking and other hardships.
As far as where Hovde lives—he has a house in suburban Madison that he bought shortly before his unsuccessful 2012 Senate bid. His seven-million-dollar California estate has often been mentioned by Democrats as a sign that Hovde is out of touch with average Wisconsinites.
UW-Milwaukee Political Science Prof. Kathleen Dolan says that issue, and Hovde's previously considering other bids for office, may turn off some voters. “And perhaps think it is more a self-interested politician’s perspective on service than a home-grown, ‘I want to work for Wisconsin’ perspective. But Republicans will get behind the nominee. Democrats won’t like the Republican nominee," Dolan says.
Dolan says one of Hovde’s political strengths is his apparent ability to finance his campaign on his own. She says it’s hard to predict how this year’s presidential contest will affect down-ballot races like the U.S. Senate.
Eric Hovde wasn't the only one emphasizing the family's roots in Wisconsin during the campaign kick-off. Hovde’s brother, Steven Hovde, Chairman and CEO of Hovde Group, says the connections include sports teams.
“Like me, Eric bleeds Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers. We moan the losses. Badgers basketball— gotta' get it back in gear," Steven Hovde says, apparently referring to the recent struggles of UW-Madison's men's team.
That team turned things around Tuesday night and defeated Maryland 74-70.
Eric Hovde will get the chance to build more Wisconsin connections during his next six months, if there is a GOP primary, or eight-plus months, if he makes it to the November election, of trying to unseat Baldwin, a two-term incumbent.
