Wisconsin’s critical Senate race devolves into bitter feud as GOP targets partner of gay senator

By Manu Raju and Haley Talbot, CNN

MADISON, Wisconsin (CNN) — Sen. Tammy Baldwin seemed to be in a comfortable spot in August.

The Democratic incumbent was leading in the polls and favored to hang onto her seat. Her GOP opponent, Eric Hovde, CEO of a $3 billion bank, was on the defensive after tens of millions in Democratic attacks over his vast wealth and past comments. And she had a new nominee atop the Democratic ticket, with Kamala Harris injecting fresh energy into one of the nation’s most evenly divided battlegrounds.

But then the GOP zeroed in on a new line of attack. In the run-up to Election Day, Republicans have put a spotlight on Baldwin’s same-sex relationship and the career of her partner. And Baldwin, who became the first out gay senator when elected in 2012, has been on the defensive.

Since August, Hovde and GOP groups – including a super PAC linked to his brother – have cut no fewer than eight ads in a multimillion dollar campaign accusing Baldwin of a conflict of interest because her partner of six years, Maria Brisbane, is a financial adviser for high-end clients, a charge lacking proof and one Baldwin strongly denies.

As Republicans say the attack is fair game, Democrats see a dog whistle, noting that questions are rarely raised about girlfriends of male senators.

“I think he is,” Baldwin told CNN when asked whether she believed Hovde is trying to remind voters that she’s gay.

Hovde pushed back.

“Oh, come on, I could care less whether she’s gay,” Hovde said in an interview. “I mean, this is a ridiculous question.”

The Wisconsin Senate race has devolved into one of the most personal and nastiest affairs in the country. The seat is one of eight battlegrounds that Democrats are fighting to hold as Republicans try to win control of the Senate. And the race is now locked in a dead heat. If Democrats lose Wisconsin, they have almost no shot at holding on to power in the Senate.

Hovde has worked to align himself with former President Donald Trump to shore up GOP support to eke out a win against a longtime incumbent who is revered by the progressive left.

The race has featured fierce debate between the two candidates over a range of hot-button issues, including abortion rights, immigration and the economy. But with the divided electorate here polarized in the Trump era, Hovde has leaned heavily on the culture wars in his closing argument, attacking Baldwin over transgender policies and homing in on the senator’s partner’s work in an effort to bring GOP voters and right-leaning independents into the fold.

“The one that you’re in is always the hardest race,” Baldwin said when asked to rank her battle against Hovde against her past campaigns. She first won a House seat representing Madison in 1998.  “And it’s a very divisive time. I don’t see as many ticket-splitters as I’ve seen in the past. I certainly am hoping for some, but I think it is a different type of race.”

The GOP ads focused on Baldwin’s relationship often stress that Brisbane is Baldwin’s “girlfriend” and demand that the senator disclose her partner’s assets, something required only for spouses under Senate rules — not for girlfriends or boyfriends.

“Baldwin’s in bed with Wall Street,” a woman, sitting in her kitchen, says in one Hovde ad.  

Asked if she should disclose her partner’s clients to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Baldwin said that was out of bounds.

“If I was dating a doctor, should they disclose their patients? I mean, come on,” Baldwin said. “Just, stay out of my personal life. I disclose everything that I’m legally required to disclose.”

Hovde’s wealth and California ties

Hovde could be one of the richest senators – if not the richest – if he’s elected. After growing up in Madison and attending the University of Wisconsin, Hovde helped build his family’s real estate empire and took ownership of $3 billion Sunwest Bank.

Hovde’s exact net worth is unclear because Senate rules only require disclosure of a range of assets. But he has at least $195 million in assets, according to public records.

Asked if he’d reveal his specific net worth, given his demands that Baldwin disclose information about her partner, Hovde declined.

“No, I’m not going to get into that,” he told CNN, as he declined to also say how much of his own cash he will ultimately pour into the race. He’s dropped $20 million of his own money into it so far.

And Hovde demurred when asked if he believed his vast wealth could be a liability.

“Why would that be a liability?” he asked.

“I’m out of touch?” Hovde said of the Democratic attacks. “I go to work every day with the people of Wisconsin.”

Hovde hasn’t committed to selling his bank if he’s elected — a point that Democrats have seized on to argue he could face conflicts of interest if he does not.

He also has faced Democratic attacks over a $7 million home he owns in Laguna Beach, California, and his ties to Orange County, California. Hovde was named by Orange County Business Journal as one of the 500 most influential people of the year between 2018-2020.

“And I like to remind Wisconsinites, we have a Green County, we have a Brown County, Wisconsin,” Baldwin said. “We do not have an Orange County, Wisconsin.”

Hovde said the attacks are unfair, noting he lives in Madison off Lake Mendota and that he has only spent about three months a year in Laguna Beach over the past five years.

“She went total scorched earth, trying to tell people I’m from California,” Hovde lamented. “And I’ve had my home, my residence, not even a mile away down here on Lake Mendota.”

But it’s Hovde’s past comments that have gotten him in hot water as well – some of which he made in his unsuccessful Senate primary bid in 2012.

Among the comments: Hovde saying there should be “consequences” for poor personal choices like eating unhealthy food and for being obese and that those individuals’ health insurance “is going to cost more.” The comments are now a key part of Baldwin’s attack ads against Hovde, asking: “What’s wrong with this guy?”

Asked last week if he still believes that overweight individuals should pay more for health care, Hovde said: “I’ve backed off that view” and noted that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has helped inform him about the potential dangers of the food supply.

“We want to encourage people to make good choices,” said Hovde, who developed multiple sclerosis at the age of 27. “But I’ve really come to appreciate how much our food supply is causing a lot of our health problems in our country.”

Baldwin’s 2009 comments on an ex-partner resurface

Despite the aggressive attacks against Baldwin’s partner, Hovde says that he is the one who has been unfairly targeted.

“I started this race talking about issues,” he insisted.

Yet it’s the huge influx of GOP cash that has helped changed the tide of the race. Even as Democrats are poised to outspend the GOP for the cycle in Wisconsin since the start of the year, Hovde and his allies have spent $51 million on air from October 1 through Election Day, compared with $39 million for Democrats over that same timeframe. And a sizable chunk of that late money has focused on GOP attacks over Baldwin’s partner’s work.

In the latest line of attack, Republicans are spotlighting resurfaced comments from 2009 when Baldwin was a congresswoman and testifying as she pushed a bill to give federal employee benefits to domestic partners. At a hearing, Baldwin said she should have to disclose her domestic partner’s financial information.

“Surely, the public interest would require that these obligations apply also to partners of gay and lesbian officeholders,” she said at the time.

Asked to reconcile her previous position with her current situation, Baldwin said there was a distinction between her current and past relationship. Previously, she said, she was in a domestic partnership. And now, she and Brisbane are still dating, though they own a condo in Washington together. They bought the condo in 2021 for $1.3 million.

“So I don’t particularly want to talk about my past life, but we had a domestic partnership law here in Wisconsin, and my ex and I were legally domestic partners,” Baldwin said when asked about her 2009 remarks. “That’s not the case in my current situation.”

To push back against Hovde’s attacks, Baldwin has gone on air to call the ads accusing her of a conflict as “a complete lie” and also noted she has pushed a bill that would restrict stock trading of senators and their spouses. Asked why that bill shouldn’t apply to her partner, Baldwin said there’s a difference.

“Yeah, I think that the distinction has always been clear,” Baldwin said. “And if you’re dating someone, you don’t have to disclose their finances. If you’re married to someone you do, and that’s a clear line, and I think it’s very appropriate.”

Baldwin then pointed to questions about whether Hovde would continue to own his bank if elected.

“I disclose everything I’m required to,” she said. “I think he’s also trying to distract from his sort of judgmental weaknesses. …. Think of him on the Banking Committee, setting regulations for banks. I mean, this is a horrifying conflict of interest that I think he wants to deflect attention from.”

Asked about his ads that say that Baldwin is “in bed with Wall Street,” Hovde said: “Well, one of my design or ad guys created that, yeah. And the point is, have you seen her ads on me?”

But when asked about his own ties to the financial sector, Hovde said: “I don’t have a problem if you have connections to Wall Street. But don’t sit here and run for 26 years trying to say ‘I’m fighting against Wall Street’ while you’re taking massive money from Wall Street.”

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and David Wright contributed to this report.

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