The Case Against Eric Hovde: Why Wisconsin Voters Will Reject the Jerk From California Tonight

MADISON, Wis. — For the past eighteen months, Wisconsinites have learned about California bank owner Eric Hovde, his laundry list of insulting comments about everyday people, his conflicts of interest that would compromise him in the Senate, and his out-of-touch agenda that would hurt Wisconsinites and help rich guys like himself.

Here’s the case against Eric Hovde and why Wisconsinites will reject him at the polls today:

A California bank owner with more ties to the Golden State than the Badger State:

• Eric Hovde is a California bank owner who spends his time lounging on his private beach outside his $7 million mansion in Laguna Beach.

• How California is he? He’s been named one of the most influential people in Orange County, California not once, not twice, but three times. 

• This summer, he skipped out on a campaign event in Oconto County to instead fly to Laguna Beach and lounge on his private beach.

What a Jerk!

• There isn’t a Wisconsinite between Kenosha and Superior that Eric Hovde hasn’t insulted. What’s wrong with this guy?!

  • He said nursing home residents are “not at a point to vote”

  • He said women are “too focused on Hollywood”

  • He said men are “too focused on sports”

  • He said he thought Wisconsinites were so poorly informed about the world that it was “deplorable.”

  • He said people who struggle with their weight should face “consequences” and be forced to pay more for health care.

  • He said young people are “so stupid,” lack a “good work ethic,” and don’t “how to write.”

  • He said letting people stay on their family health plan until age 26 is “stupid.”

  • He said farmers “largely drive around on tractors.”

  • He said he opposed the sale of commercialized alcohol.

  • He said he understands Black culture because he’s been to Africa.

  • He said “college aged girls” are “single issue” voters on abortion.

  • He belittled Native communities.

  • He has a history of making anti-Semitic slurs.

  • He has a history of stereotyping Black men.

  • He defended the comedian who called Puerto Rico a pile of trash.

• Meanwhile, he brags about being a member of the 1%.

The Out-of-Touch Hovde Plan: 

• Eric Hovde has run on the ‘Hovde Plan,’ an out-of-touch plan that threatens Wisconsinites’ freedoms, healthcare, and the benefits they’ve worked hard to earn.

  • Hovde wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act “in its entirety,” ripping protections from millions of people with pre-existing conditions and rolling back Tammy Baldwin’s provision that allows kids up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ health care

  • Hovde said he “absolutely” wants to cut Social Security benefits. 

    • His plan would cut benefits by $6,000 per year for average retirees and raise the retirement age as high as 72 years old.

  • Hovde’s plan would cut veterans’ benefits by more than 40%.

• And how would Hovde pay for this plan? By spending $4 trillion on a tax cut for corporations and the ultra rich like himself.

Banning Abortion:

• Hovde is “totally opposed to abortion” and supported overturning Roe v. Wade.

• Because Hovde got his way and Roe was overturned, criminal abortion bans across the country went into law. In many states, including Wisconsin, these bans had no exceptions even for victims of rape or incest. 

• Hovde has been endorsed by anti-abortion groups that compared abortion to child sacrifice, called medication abortion “baby pesticides,” and pushed to “end abortion” entirely in the United States, including by defending Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban. 

A Walking Conflict of Interest with a Sketchy Business Record:

• Hovde says he would keep owning and profiting from his $3.2 billion California bank if he’s elected to the Senate. As a bank owner-Senator, he would shape banking policy to make himself more money. 

  • This is all while Hovde refuses to say which foreign governments are depositing money into his bank, as his bank receives more and more scrutiny.

• As a hedge fund manager in Washington, D.C., Hovde invested millions in companies that outsourced jobs from Wisconsin.

• Hovde owns a nursing home that was sued for elder abuse and wrongful death.

• He profited from tens of millions of dollars worth of investments in offshore, Bermudan reinsurance companies that were set up to dodge U.S. taxes.

• Hovde’s family business tried to do business in China through an investment vehicle called Hovde China Ventures.

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