For more on the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin, tune in to CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju” this Sunday at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET.
Madison, Wisconsin
CNN
—
Sen. Tammy Baldwin seemed to be in a comfortable place in August.
The Democratic incumbent was leading in opinion polls and favored retaining his seat. Her Republican opponent, Eric Hovde, CEO of a $3 billion bank, is on the defensive after receiving tens of millions in attacks from Democrats over his vast wealth and past comments. I was forced to stand. And with Kamala Harris injecting new energy into one of the nation’s most competitive battlegrounds, she is the new candidate at the top of the Democratic ticket.
But then Republicans set their sights on a new attack. Ahead of Election Day, Republicans are spotlighting Baldwin’s homosexuality and his partner’s career. And Baldwin, who became the first openly gay senator when elected in 2012, is on the defensive.
Since August, Republican groups, including a super PAC linked to Hovde and his brother, have cut more than eight ads in a multimillion-dollar campaign accusing Baldwin of conflicts of interest. That’s because her partner of six years, Maria Brisbane, is a financial advisor. In the case of high-end clients, the accusations lack evidence and are strongly denied by Baldwin.
While Republicans say the attacks are fair, Democrats see them as dog-whistling, pointing out that questions are rarely raised about male senators’ girlfriends.
Asked if he thought Hovde was trying to remind voters that he is gay, Baldwin told CNN: “I think so.”
Hovde pushed back.
“Well, I don’t really care if she’s gay or not,” Hovde said in an interview. “I mean, this is a stupid question.”
The Wisconsin Senate race has evolved into one of the most personal and troubling events in the country. The seat is one of eight battleground districts being contested by Democrats as Republicans seek to gain a majority in the Senate. And the race is a fierce dead heat. If Democrats lose Wisconsin, they have little chance of retaining power in the Senate.
Hovde has been working with former President Donald Trump to shore up Republican support in an effort to defeat a longtime incumbent respected by the progressive left.
The election campaign featured heated debates between the two candidates over a variety of issues, including abortion rights, immigration, and the economy. But with a divided electorate polarized in the Trump era, Mr. Hovde leaned heavily into the culture wars in his closing argument, attacking Mr. Baldwin over his transgender policies and seeking support from Republican voters and right-wing independents. Focused on the work of the senator’s partners. In the crease.
“The races I’m in are always the most difficult races,” Baldwin said when asked to rank his fight against Hovde compared to past campaigns. She first won a House seat representing Madison in 1998. I don’t see people splitting tickets as much as I used to. I’m definitely looking forward to it, but I think it’s a different type of race. ”
Republican ads focused on Baldwin’s relationships often emphasize that Brisbane is Baldwin’s “girlfriend” and demand that the senator disclose her partner’s assets, but this Senate rules require it only for spouses and not for girlfriends or boyfriends.
“Baldwin is in bed with Wall Street,” says a woman sitting in her kitchen in the Hovde ad.
Asked whether a partner’s customers should be disclosed to avoid the appearance of fraud, Baldwin said that would be over the top.
“If I was dating a doctor, should a doctor disclose about his patients? I mean, come on,” Baldwin said. “Just don’t get involved in my private life. I will disclose everything that I am legally required to disclose.”
Hovde’s wealth and California ties
If elected, Hovde could become one of the wealthiest senators, if not the richest. After growing up in Madison and attending the University of Wisconsin, Hovde helped build his family’s real estate empire, taking ownership of the $3 billion Sunwest Bank.
Hovde’s exact net worth is unknown because Senate rules only require disclosure of a set of assets. However, public records show he is worth at least $195 million.
Asked if she would reveal her specific net worth in light of Baldwin’s request to disclose information about her partner, Hovde declined.
“No, I’m not going to get into that,” he told CNN, without saying how much of his own cash he would ultimately put into the race. He has put $20 million of his own money into it so far.
And Mr. Hovde disputed a question about whether he thought his vast wealth could become a liability.
“Why would that be a liability?” he asked.
“What if we can’t reach you?” Hovde said of the Democratic attack. “I go to work every day with the people of Wisconsin.”
Hovde has not promised to sell the bank if elected, but Democrats have used that to argue that he could face a conflict of interest if he is not elected.
He also faces Democratic attacks over his $7 million home in Laguna Beach, Calif., and his ties to Orange County, Calif. Mr. Hovde was named one of the 500 Most Influential People from 2018 to 2020 by the Orange County Business Journal.
“I want to remind people in Wisconsin, we have Greene County and we have Brown County,” Baldwin said. “There is no Orange County, Wisconsin.”
Hovde, who lives in Madison off Lake Mendota, said the attack was unwarranted, noting he has only spent about three months a year in Laguna Beach for the past five years.
“She’s completely scorched earth trying to tell people I’m from California,” Hovde lamented. “And I have a home, a residence, less than a mile away here on Lake Mendota.”
But Hovde’s past statements also trouble him. Some of those comments were made during the unsuccessful 2012 Senate primary race.
Among the comments, Hovde said there must be “consequences” for bad personal choices, such as eating unhealthy food or becoming obese, and that health insurance for such individuals would be “more expensive.” It will happen,” he said. The comments are now a key part of Baldwin’s attack ad against Hovde, asking, “What’s wrong with this guy?”
Asked last week if he still believes overweight people should pay more for health care, Hovde said, “I’ve withdrawn that idea,” adding that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He also pointed out that they had alerted him to the potential dangers. .
“We want people to make the right choices,” said Hovde, who developed multiple sclerosis at the age of 27. “But I started to really understand how much our food supply is causing so many health problems in this country.”
Despite Baldwin’s aggressive attacks on his partner, Hovde says he is the one being unfairly targeted.
“I started this race talking about issues,” he claimed.
But it was the huge influx of Republican money that helped turn the tide of the race. Democrats have been poised to outspend Republicans in the Wisconsin election cycle since the beginning of the year, with Hovde and his allies spending $51 million on broadcasts from Oct. 1 to Election Day. Democrats spent $39 million over the same period. And a significant portion of that delayed funding focused on Republican attacks on the work of Baldwin’s partners.
In the latest line of attack, Republicans are spotlighting resurfaced statements made by Mr. Baldwin from 2009, when he was a member of the House of Representatives, when he pushed for a bill to give federal workers benefits to domestic partners. Baldwin said at the hearing that financial information about domestic partners must be disclosed.
“Certainly, the public interest would require that these obligations also apply to partners of gay and lesbian executives,” she said at the time.
Asked to reconcile his previous position with his current situation, Baldwin said there is a difference between the relationship between the present and the past. They previously had domestic partnerships, she said. And now, while she and Brisbane are still together, they own a condo together in Washington. They purchased the condo in 2021 for $1.3 million.
When asked about her 2009 comments, Baldwin said, “So, I don’t particularly want to talk about my past life, but here in the state of Wisconsin, we have a domestic partnership law, and my ex-boyfriend and I are legally in a domestic partnership.”・He was a partner.” “In my current situation, that’s not the case.”
Mr. Baldwin countered Mr. Hovde’s attacks by airing an ad indicting the conflict as a “complete lie” and also pointing out that he had pushed a bill that would restrict stock trading by senators and their spouses. Asked why the bill shouldn’t apply to her partner, Ms. Baldwin said there was a difference.
“Well, I think the difference has always been clear,” Baldwin said. “And if you’re dating someone, you don’t have to reveal their financial status. If you’re married to someone, you do, it’s a clear line and it’s very I think it’s appropriate.”
Mr. Baldwin then pointed to questions about whether Mr. Hovde would continue to own his own bank if elected.
“I will disclose everything requested,” she said. “I think he’s also trying to distract from his poor judgment. … Consider that he’s on the Banking Commission, which sets regulations for banks. So this is a terrible conflict of interest, and I think he wants to divert attention.”
Asked about the ad that said Baldwin was “in bed with Wall Street,” Mr. Hovde said, “Well, either my design or one of my ad people created it.” And importantly, have you seen her ad about me? ”
However, when asked about Hovde’s own connections to the financial sector, he replied: But don’t sit here and run for 26 years trying to say, “I’m fighting Wall Street,” taking huge amounts of money from Wall Street. ”
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and David Wright contributed to this report.
