Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde is coming under fire for past comments he reportedly made that many see as antithetical to the lifeblood of his state of Wisconsin.
In 2017, Hovde criticized alcohol sales, saying booze should only be available to people who brew or distill it themselves, according to Rolling Stone.
That same year, the beer industry contributed more than $10.5 billion to Wisconsin’s economy, employing more than 69,000 people in the state.
When discussing the possibility of decriminalizing marijuana in Wisconsin, where it is currently illegal recreationally and medically, Hovde reportedly said the commercialization of alcohol should not have happened, noting it would be hard to reverse course on the alcohol industry.
“So, if we just decriminalize [marijuana]? Fine,” Hovde reportedly said in audio obtained by the outlet. “Nobody’s going to go to jail. No one’s going to get arrested for it. That’s your self-determination, but you’re not going to turn it into an enterprise. Frankly, it should have happened with alcohol.
“I mean, look at — alcohol has a lot of negative byproducts,” he continued. “If somebody wanted to distill it, drink it. Fine, go ahead. But, sadly, as we know, it’s produced a lot of negative byproducts as a part of society. I don’t think adding more negative byproducts to society is a healthy thing. And saying that, I think … the horse is out of the barn, and it’s going to be hard to put back.”
When the Washington Examiner reached out to Hovde’s campaign for comment, spokesman Ben Voelkel said: “Eric Hovde is a proud supporter in principle and in practice of Wisconsin’s brewers, distillers and wine makers.
“The liberal media is grasping at straws, and the more ridiculous they get the more obvious it is that they realize Sen. [Tammy] Baldwin’s (D-WI) 95.5% support for the Biden agenda is the kind of watered down swill Wisconsinites aren’t interested in,” Voelkel added.
Hovde made the statements on alcohol and marijuana at a “Pints and Politics” event when he considered running for Senate in 2018. He said he believed marijuana should be available to those who grow it, taking a similar stance on alcohol.
“I’m a libertarian in most cases — not when it comes to drugs,” Hovde added. “But if somebody says, ‘Okay, for medical reasons or whatever, I want to grow a plant, I want to smoke it.’ Fine. But why do we want to commercialize marijuana? I don’t get that. It’s just another thing that society is going to have to bear the consequences and costs of.”
The state’s most populous city, Milwaukee, founded Miller, Pabst, and other large brewing companies. It is nicknamed “Brew City,” and its MLB team, the Brewers, pays homage to the city’s long history with beer.
The Tavern League of Wisconsin, a powerful lobbying agency in the state, criticized Hovde’s previous comments.
“You could probably make that same comment about Big Macs,” Tavern League spokesman Scott Stenger told Rolling Stone. “I don’t think that is a very informed look at the reality of the economy — whether it’s in Wisconsin or anywhere.
“Like anything, whether it’s hamburgers or alcohol, there’s a way that it can be enjoyed responsibly,” he said. “To deny that it’s not a part of our economy is just not looking at the facts. It is. It’s a significant piece of our economy, and I think regulators and legislators understand that.”
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Hovde is running to unseat Baldwin this November. She is a strong proponent of the state’s alcohol industry.
“Wisconsin makes the best beer in the world,” Baldwin’s campaign account said on X Wednesday. “Our brewers are an important part of our #MadeinWI economy, and I’m proud to be their champion in the Senate. Cheers to that!”
