Businessman Eric Hovde, who is seeking the Republican nomination for Senate from Wisconsin, said in an interview with The Hill that the presumptive Democratic nominee, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, is a Marxist.
“I fundamentally disagree with Tammy on almost everything. She has a more liberal voting record than almost anybody in Congress,” said Hovde. “Her philosophy has its roots in Marxism, communism, socialism, extreme liberalism — she calls it progressivism — versus mine, which is rooted in free-market conservatism.”
Hovde’s comments fit in with other recent comments from right-wing candidates, such as the declaration by Rep. Allen West (R-FL) that there were “78 or 81 members of the Democrat Party that are members of the Communist Party” — with West naming the Congressional Progressive Caucus as the subversive culprits.
The Baldwin campaign pushed back at Hovde, with spokesman John Kraus telling the paper: “Unlike Tammy, who has worked across party lines to crack down on China’s cheating, protect Wisconsin manufacturing jobs, and invest in small businesses, Hovde clearly has no interest in bipartisan work to create jobs and move our economic recovery forward.
“Had he not spent the last 24 years in Washington D.C. working as a hedge fund banker, he might know that Wisconsin voters will not buy the increasing desperate and divisive politics he is selling.”
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson is the frontrunner in a four-way Republican primary, with the opposition from Thompson’s right currently split between the self-funder Hovde, former Rep. Mark Neumann, and state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald.
The primary will be held August 14.
