WASHINGTON — The Republican candidate for Senate, Eric Hovde, said he jumped into a frozen lake in Wisconsin to make a point.
“The Dems and Senator Baldwin keep saying I’m not from Wisconsin, which is a complete joke,” he said in a video posted on X.
He then challenged his opponent, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, to jump in too. She simply responded “No,” with a heart emoji.
Even before Hovde formally announced his candidacy, Democrats had spent months casting him as a carpetbagger, who spends more time in California tending to his business interests than in the Badger State. Hovde does own homes in both Wisconsin and California, but he grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Hovde ran for Senate 12 years ago and lost, and now he’s giving it another go.
Analysts said the attacks, and his response, show that residency and authenticity can be significant issues with voters. Hovde moved back to Madison in 2011 after two decades in D.C., according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“[Hovde] can, in fact, say, ‘Maybe I don't have the 100% always Wisconsin, all the time, but I chose to spend my time here.’ And so I think, there is a potential benefit either way. Baldwin clearly can say she’s been here. She’s got family here. She’s authentic that way,” said Arnold Shober, a professor of government at Lawrence University. “Hovde can’t match that story, but he can say that it’s still valuable to him; he saw some value in the state. So I think there’s, in fact, positives for both sides with this kind of story.”
Shober said Democrats’ attack on Hovde and where he spends most of his time is an “early cut” in the Senate race, but one that Wisconsin voters will pay attention to.
Another political expert said the strategy has been used before and it plays to the pride many in Wisconsin have in their state.
“There’s no doubt that in the previous race for governor, when the Republican nominee also owned property and lived part time in New York, that that was part of the attacks from Governor Evers’ supporters or independent spending groups,” said Mordecai Lee, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “So it could well be that Wisconsin is sort of provincial enough, if that’s the word, to say that these can be attacks that really strike deeply.”
Wisconsin Democrats will likely continue to slam Hovde on his connection to California.
“If California bank owner Eric Hovde thinks sitting in a lake is going to stop us from telling Wisconsinites about his California bank, California megamansion and California ties, he’s going to be swimming a whole lot for the next eight months,” wrote Arik Wolk, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s rapid response director, in a statement.
Though Shober said messaging in the beginning of Hovde’s campaign will stay lighthearted as he tries to gain name recognition, things could change closer to Election Day as Baldwin and Hovde duke it out over who’s best to represent Wisconsin.
“Later on, I’m sure we’ll have the go for the jugular ads, like ‘Tammy Baldwin has a condo in D.C., and why are you complaining about mine?’ kind of thing,” Shober said.
Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate, and the election for Baldwin’s seat could determine control of the upper chamber in the next Congress.