Could Hovde be prepping for run?
Stock sales point toward possible entry
WASHINGTON – The Republican race to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin in 2024 remains dormant, but one of the GOP’s top potential candidates is showing hints of a nascent campaign.
Madison business mogul Eric Hovde in recent weeks sold millions of dollars’ worth of stocks — money the multimillionaire could put toward the beginnings of a Senate run — and a new online survey making the rounds asks potential voters for their views on Hovde while also taking jabs at Baldwin.
Taken together, the developments appear to be the most significant signs of a future campaign connected to a major potential candidate in Wisconsin’s so-far quiet GOP Senate primary. No Republican who could present a viable threat to Baldwin has yet declared a bid, but Hovde’s name has been at the top of the list of likely contenders for Wisconsin Republicans.
From late August to early September, Hovde and his associated investment vehicles sold off more than $4.3 million in stock — a sum that would help the Madison businessman kick-start a primary campaign. The sales, according to Securities and Exchange Commission records reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, were made from holdings in the technology company ePlus Inc., which has included Hovde on its board of directors since 2006.
Asked about the stocks, Hovde in a text message to the Journal Sentinel dismissed questions about the stock sales being connected to a Senate run. “Just an investment decision nothing to do with politics,” he wrote.
Hovde made similar sales when he was considering a Senate run against Baldwin in 2017. At the time, he sold more than $14.5 million in ePlus Inc. stock, but he ultimately decided not to run.
This time, however, Wisconsin Republicans appear optimistic Hovde might launch a bid as fewer well-known Wisconsin Republicans are contemplating a run against Baldwin. Hovde previously said he could make a decision as soon as this fall, but some Republicans in the state have speculated that he could wait until the new year to announce his plans.
And while Hovde has yet to hire campaign staff, a new online survey aimed at potential Wisconsin Senate voters provides another hint at Hovde’s potential plans.
The survey asks potential voters’ opinions of Hovde, Baldwin, former President Donald Trump and the direction the country is headed.
It asks respondents to pick “the single most important in your vote for U.S. Senate” — listing the economy and jobs, inflation and government spending, health care, Social Security and Medicare, abortion, crime, illegal immigration and the environment as potential answers — before using a familiar attack on Baldwin.
“Tammy Baldwin has been a professional politician for 38 years. In Washington, Baldwin votes with Joe Biden nearly 100% of the time and has supported trillions in new spending that sent inflation to a forty-year high and cost Wisconsin families $10,000 a year,” reads one statement in the survey, which then asks potential voters whether that statement makes them more or less likely to vote for the incumbent Democrat.
The origin of the survey is unclear. But all signs point to a Hovde ally familiar with the businessman’s thinking after Hovde ruled himself out.
“Not mine,” he said in a text message. “I haven’t looked at the survey, so I’m not quite sure who would be behind it.”
“Eric Hovde is a businessman, job creator and an independent voice who can bring real change to Washington,” a question toward the end of the survey begins. “Hovde’s top priorities include balancing the federal budget, protecting Wisconsin manufacturing jobs, and lowering the costs of prescription drugs.”
Does that statement, the survey asks, make prospective voters more inclined to pick Hovde for Senate?
Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.