In Senate race, Baldwin and Hovde accuse each other of ignoring conflicts of interest
RICHFIELD, Wis. (CBS 58) -- In one of his final campaign stops, Eric Hovde rallied supporters from behind the bar at Pioneer Bowl Monday afternoon. Speaking on friendly turf for Republicans in Washington County, Hovde, who's challenging Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, called for voters to enact change and give Wisconsin two GOP U.S. senators.
"I can't recognize our country at times over the last four years," Hovde said.
During the campaign's final weeks, the candidates have been sharper in their attacks. A consistent theme has been Baldwin and Hovde accusing each other of refusing to disclose financial information in a way that could lead to conflicts of interest.
For this story, the Baldwin campaign agreed to do a 10-minute interview following a campaign stop last week in Cedarburg. The Hovde campaign initially agreed to an interview following Monday's event in Richfield.
However, Hovde, who appeared with Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Bryan Steil, was behind schedule as his tour bus made six stops in eastern Wisconsin. A staffer told a CBS 58 reporter at the event's conclusion an interview would not be happening and Hovde would instead have a press conference with multiple outlets present.
Hovde has made immigration a focal point of his campaign, mirroring GOP presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump. When asked how he defines mass deportation and whether he would support it, Hovde indicated be believed anyone who entered the country illegally should be deported.
"Look, you've gotta go through the process of deporting the people who came here illegally, but as I've said from day one, we gotta fix our legal immigration system," Hovde said. "So, I believe people that want to come here legally, and I've said it, we should give them within three, four or five years, a thumbs-up or thumbs-down."
A UW-Madison study estimated illegal immigrants currently provide about 70% of the labor in Wisconsin's dairy industry. Hovde said he supported work permits for migrants who had no plans of staying permanently.
Baldwin said she wanted immigration enforcement to focus on finding migrants with a violent criminal history. When asked if she would support requiring all U.S. police departments to honor ICE immigration detainers, she said, "I would like to put together legislation that makes it clear that violent criminals need to be deported."
Baldwin touted a bipartisan Senate bill that increased funding for both border security and speeding up the process of granting asylum hearings for migrants. Conservative critics said the bill wasn't strong enough, and it died in February.
"We put that bill together," Baldwin said. "And then, Republican- Trump and people like my opponent, who said he would've voted against it, decided they would prefer to have a political issue to run on than have a solution."
The other issue voters consistently rank as the most important to them is the economy. Baldwin said she believed the best way to drive down costs would be to empower federal authorities to look into cases of price gouging that have kept costs inflated even as supply chains have settled and inflation has cooled.
"We haven't seen them level off or go down now that we've fixed those problems, and so, I believe there's some gouging going on," Baldwin said. "Right now, there is no federal agency to be the cop on the beat on behalf of consumers, and I think we should empower the Federal Trade Commission to investigate allegations of price gouging."
CBS 58 was not able to get a question into Hovde about his specific economic plans during Monday's press availability. Hovde's campaign website calls for Congress to "dramatically reduce our country’s federal spending and deficits." It does not specify what Hovde would want to cut.
On the accusations of competing financial interests, conservatives have slammed Baldwin for not disclosing her partner's finances. Baldwin and her partner, wealth advisor Maria Brisbane, bought a million-dollar DC condo in 2021.
Baldwin had previously said in a 2009 hearing she believed the gay and lesbian partners of members of Congress should disclose their finances. In the interview, Baldwin said the key difference is whether a couple is married. She said requiring financial disclosures in any case where a member of Congress co-owns a property would be a slippery slope.
"I can't imagine how many businesses and properties are co-owned by my opponent," Baldwin said. "But he only discloses his and his legally married spouse. What you just asked me would be almost impossible to do."
Hovde, meanwhile, has faced criticism from Democrats over Utah-based Sunwest Bank, of which Hovde is CEO. The Baldwin campaign has criticized Hovde for not disclosing which foreign governments have banked with Sunwest and the bank's history of doing business with Banco Azteca, which has drawn scrutiny for its ties to cartels.
Critics have called for Hovde to commit to divesting his holdings in Sunwest should he win a Senate seat. When asked about divestment at the end of Monday's press availability, Hovde laughed and said, "Oh, that's a good one" while walking away.
The final Marquette Law School poll of this cycle showed Baldwin with a narrow 51% to 49% lead last week. The previous MU Law poll, released in early October, showed Baldwin with a 53% to 46% advantage.