MADISON, Wis. — Debate day has barely even started, and Eric Hovde is already making headlines for supporting policies that are bad for Wisconsin. From pushing to end the Department of Education to slashing veterans’ benefits and Social Security, Hovde will have to answer for his out-of-touch agenda.
See below for what Wisconsinites are reading about Eric Hovde’s disastrous plan for Wisconsinites ahead of tonight’s debate:
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde said that all federal spending should be cut back to 2019 levels. This plan could imperil veterans’ benefits and lead to cuts to Social Security.
- When the interviewer pressed Hovde on which specific federal programs he would cut, he gave a clear response: “All programs should be pulled back to 2019 levels.”
- Scaling all federal programs back to 2019 spending levels would result in an $82.6 billion cut to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Since 2019, the bulk of spending increases at the VA has gone towards disability compensation, pension payments, and benefits for families of fallen servicemembers.
- Hovde’s plan would also threaten the PACT Act of 2022, a bill that expands health care benefits for veterans that were exposed to toxic substances. The bill specifically aims to help veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans exposed to these substances have experienced higher rates of cancer and respiratory illnesses.
- Federal spending on Social Security has increased by approximately 28% since 2019. This is due in part to the number of baby boomers that are retiring. The Social Security Administration estimates that the average monthly Social Security benefit is $1,872.09. If this amount were cut by 28% it would deprive beneficiaries of more than $500 a month.
- Hovde has flirted with cutting Social Security in the past. Hovde talks frequently about wanting to lower the national debt and deficit. In June, he agreed with an interviewer’s assessment that there was no way to accomplish this goal without cutting Social Security and Medicare.
- Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde is calling for closing the federal Department of Education, describing it as “one of the worst monstrosities that’s ever been created.”
- Hovde, a businessman running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the Nov. 5 election, casts the agency as a symbol of bureaucratic overreach and a source of youth indoctrination. His position mirrors what’s become a national talking point and part of the Republican party platform. Donald Trump said he would shut down the agency. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 also called for its closure.
- “They’re trying to push gender ideology, which is just nuts and all these other things,” Hovde said about the department at an event with conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro last week. “They’re trying to social engineer your children. So I am just so fundamentally opposed at this. And the Department of Education, if I get to the U.S. Senate, one thing I’m going to say, ‘hey, there’s a spot to save a lot of money and do America a lot better’ (is) closing that thing for good.”
- Baldwin and other Democrats have defended the agency and argue the GOP desire to dissolve the department shows the party’s lack of support for public schools and teachers.
- “Every kid deserves a quality education no matter where they live or how much their family earns,” Baldwin said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “That means funding our schools and supporting the Department of Education, not attacking it.”
- Hovde’s campaign did not respond to the Journal Sentinel requests for comment. He has previously criticized the concept of loan forgiveness, saying it is unfair to people who worked to pay off their debt and to people who do not go to college.
- Baldwin said she supports targeted debt relief for teachers, nurses and other public servants. She is also sponsoring a bill offering free community and technical college tuition for students, which she said would help them acquire skills to succeed without being dragged down by debt.
- Hovde did not respond to questions about whether he supports moving the department’s Office of Civil Rights to a different agency or eliminating it altogether.
- Baldwin’s campaign said she supports the office and Biden’s rules protecting LGBTQ students.
WORT FM: UW-Madison Students Take Aim At Eric Hovde, Hovde’s Development Company
- They took issue with Hovde’s record of statements about young adults – like a 2017 statement that students and activism on college campuses are stupid, or a 2021 statement that young people don’t have the same work ethic as Baby Boomers.
- They also took aim at Hovde’s development company, Hovde Properties of Madison. Namely, his company’s demolition of the Silver Dollar Tavern. The bar, just off the Capitol Square next to the Historical Society, was one of the oldest family-owned bars in the state until being demolished this year.
- “Right now, we are standing outside where the Silver Dollar once stood,” Jeff, a UW-Madison student, said Friday. “That is, before Eric Hovde knocked it down. That’s right, you heard that: Eric Hovde, the multimillionaire California bank owner is the one responsible for demolishing our beloved Silver Dollar.”
- Jeff added Friday that Hovde’s decision to demolish the downtown watering hole shows that he doesn’t understand Wisconsin culture.
- “Hovde even criticized alcohol sales, saying that alcohol never should have been commercialized in the first place. Criticizing alcohol in Wisconsin? We are known for our Old Fashioneds and our Spotted Cow. Our state is home to many iconic breweries that prop up the local economy as well. Eric Hovde obviously doesn’t understand or respect the industry that is so important to Wisconsin’s culture and economy. Maybe an alcohol ban would fly in California, but definitely not in Wisconsin,” said Jeff. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not letting Eric Hovde take away my beer.”
- Hovde purchased the Silver Dollar last winter for an undisclosed amount, razing the entire strip this summer.
Badger Herald: UW student Democrats defend young people against Eric Hovde’s controversial comments
- Sept. 20, 2023, Hovde was recorded making negative comments about the skills and work ethic of young people while attending a Republican Women of Dane County luncheon, according to The Badger Herald. In the recording posted by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Hovde said many of the college students he hires can’t “write properly” or “understand a good work ethic.”
- Hovde Properties of Madison recently bought the property after a decades long battle for it, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The tavern officially closed Feb. 3, and the demolition of the building began Jun. 17, according to WMTV 15 News. After describing his personal connection to the bar, Messer spoke on the implications of the Silver Dollar Tavern’s destruction.
- “He didn’t care about the history of the bar, the patrons, the owners and the Wisconsinites who loved it,” Messer said. “He just wanted to make a quick buck off of the Silver Dollar’s property, and that comes as no surprise that Eric Hovde is out of touch with Wisconsinites.”
- While advocating for Baldwin, College Democrats Graphic Design Director Grace Florence denounced Hovde’s positions. With a 65-year-old working father, Florence said she disagrees with Hovde’s stance on raising the retirement age. Additionally, Florence expressed concern over her freedom to use contraceptives if Hovde was elected.
- “Tammy Baldwin is the counter to everything that is Eric Hovde,” Blank said. “Eric Hovde is an extremist… Tammy is working for college students and everything contrary to everything Eric has ever said.”
Washington Post: GOP Senate candidate says political opponents are ‘such a curse to our society’
- Eric Hovde, the Republican Senate candidate in Wisconsin, said over the weekend that his political opponents are “such a curse to our society today.”
- Hovde, who is running against Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), made the comment during an interview on “The Schroeder Show,” a conservative show on News Talk WTAQ, which broadcasts in northeast Wisconsin.
- A Beloit mother who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose in 2018 has channeled her grief into a fight against the opioid crisis, partnering with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin to advocate for stronger drug trafficking measures.
- She speaks about her grief in the new campaign ad of Baldwin’s, that has drawn both support and backlash.
- Eric Hovde, a Republican, is challenging Baldwin, a Democrat, in the Nov. 5 race for one of two Wisconsin seats in the U.S. Senate.
- Since the ad’s release, Hovde has said Baldwin misrepresented her role in the passage, in April, of the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.
- Hovde has also publicly said Baldwin has done nothing to stop fentanyl and has called the Baldwin’s use of Brooke’s story in a campaign ad “despicable” and “far beneath any human being.”
- Brooke said when Baldwin approached her about being part of a campaign ad, she agreed in hopes that other families wouldn’t have to go through the pain of losing a child.
- “If you see and you hear stories like that, you’re more likely to believe. It’s personal. This is why I tell my son’s story.”
- Baldwin’s concern for fentanyl is genuine, Brooke continued.
- “Tammy has not only significantly but repeatedly, reached out to people and families trying to figure out how to help them. Her own mother struggled with addiction,” she said. “We didn’t even know that until we sat down with her. She told us her story. It’s personal for her.”
- “We told her from a parent perspective what it was like, and she told us from a child perspective what it was like, and this before it was used as a political point.”
- Brooke went on to say that political affiliation doesn’t matter to her; she just wants a politician who will listen and offer solutions.
- She said Baldwin has shown that she will do that.
- Baldwin said people should stop making fentanyl a partisan issue and seek solutions.
- “Countless Wisconsin families share Brooke’s story,” she said. “This crisis isn’t a partisan issue — it’s life or death — and in order to address this epidemic, people need to put aside politics and be ready to work with anyone to solve this crisis.”
- Baldwin said that she has led bipartisan efforts to combat the opioid, fentanyl, and heroin epidemic by securing funding for Wisconsin law enforcement, first responders, and addiction recovery centers, and increasing access to overdose reversing drugs like Narcan.
- In 2016 she helped deliver funding to help Gov. Walker combat the opioid crisis. The next year, she worked to pass the INTERDICT Act that sought to step the sale of drugs like fentanyl through the mail.
- In April, the FEND Off Fentanyl Act was passed.
- “I’m so proud of Brooke for speaking up about this crisis to help other families in Wisconsin and help all of us fight this crisis that is tearing our communities apart,” Baldwin said.
