In Wisconsin's key Senate race, Eric Hovde's closing message focuses on Tammy Baldwin's sexuality

In Wisconsin’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, Republican Eric Hovde has focused much of his closing messaging on attacking the finance career of Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s girlfriend, highlighting their same-sex relationship.

In a slew of television ads in the final stretch of the election, Hovde’s campaign has repeatedly mentioned Maria Brisbane, referring to her as Baldwin’s “life partner” or her “girlfriend.” Baldwin publicly refers to Brisbane as her girlfriend.

One such ad, from Hovde’s campaign and a joint fundraising committee, features a woman who identifies as a Wisconsin resident slamming Baldwin for being “in bed with Wall Street.”

“While she sleeps in her girlfriend’s million-dollar condo in New York City, Wisconsin families are getting hammered by high inflation and handouts for illegal immigrants.”

“Tammy and her girlfriend are living large while Wisconsin families foot the bill,” the woman adds.

Another Hovde campaign ad features a narrator talking about Baldwin’s relationship with Brisbane.

“This is Sen. Tammy Baldwin,” the narrator says. “This is her life partner, Maria Brisbane, a Wall Street exec who makes millions advising the super-rich how to make money off industries Tammy regulates.”

“Tammy doesn’t get home to Wisconsin most weekends. She’d rather be in New York at Maria’s $7 million condo,” the narrator adds.

Overall, seven of Republicans’ 34 TV ads that have aired over the last month in the Wisconsin race, which will help determine the balance of power in the Senate, have referenced Baldwin’s girlfriend, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. The number of times those seven ads have run represent more than a quarter of airings of all Republican anti-Baldwin TV ads over the last month.

Baldwin became the first openly gay woman elected to Congress in 1998 and the first openly gay candidate elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012. Brisbane is a private wealth adviser for a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. Baldwin and Brisbane have been dating since 2018.

Now vying for a third Senate term, Baldwin has said the attacks are designed to distract from her record.

“These sort of things are usually considered off-bounds in politics, right? To talk about people’s personal life, their family members,” Baldwin said during a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

“Eric Hovde is desperately trying to distract us from his real vulnerabilities and conflicts of interest,” she added.

Hovde, a multimillionaire businessman and bank owner, has also echoed some of the attacks from his ads on the trail.

In their debate last month, the only one of the cycle, Hovde repeatedly criticized Baldwin’s relationship with Brisbane, saying at one point, “I’m the one who’s against Big Pharma. It’s your Wall Street partner who invests in Big Pharma you oversee.”

At another point during the Oct. 18 debate, Baldwin fired back, saying, “Eric Hovde should stay out of my personal life — and I think I speak for most Wisconsin women that he should stay out of all of our personal lives.”

In a statement in response to questions about the strategy to highlight Baldwin’s relationship, Hovde campaign spokesperson Zach Bannon said, “We agree with the 2009 version of Tammy Baldwin and any effort to distract from the facts of this conflict of interest is a disservice to the people of Wisconsin who deserve transparency.”

Bannon’s statement refers to a recent CNN report on comments Baldwin made in 2009 saying that legal domestic partners of gay and lesbian officeholders should face the same requirements for annual financial disclosures as heterosexual married couples.

“All members of Congress file annual financial disclosures. Married members must file very important information about their spouses’ income, their investments, gifts and debts, et cetera. Surely, the public interest would require that these obligations apply also to partners of gay and lesbian officeholders,” Baldwin said during a 2009 congressional hearing.

Baldwin and Brisbane are not married, nor are they legal domestic partners. In addition, Baldwin does not sit on any committees — for example, the Senate Banking or Finance committees — that would regulate Wall Street issues.

Baldwin campaign officials and LGBTQ rights organizations said that Hovde’s attack lines amount to a cynical ploy by Republicans.

“Sen. Baldwin’s sexual orientation is not on the ballot, and ads like this again reveal her opponent’s hostility to LGBTQ people,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. “Sen. Baldwin has never hidden who she is from her constituents and has a proven record of advancing equality and prosperity for all in Wisconsin, and people across the country.”

Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ rights group, added in a statement, “Wisconsinites want a proven leader with a track record of solving problems. That leader is Tammy Baldwin.”

“Eric Hovde has done little more than sow hate and division, including shameful dog whistles and attacks against Senator Baldwin,” Robinson added.

The Human Rights Campaign has endorsed Baldwin in the race. GLAAD didn’t make a formal endorsement but has published voter resource guides that highlight each candidate’s record on LGBTQ issues.

Baldwin campaign spokesperson Andrew Mamo said in a statement, “Eric Hovde has poured his fortune into one of the darkest, most divisive campaigns in Wisconsin history.”

“Wisconsinites will reject Hovde because they know that Tammy Baldwin shows up, listens, and works with anyone to get the job done,” he added.

Hovde and his allies have also run several ads targeting Baldwin over transgender issues that mirror those that have been aired across the country by former President Donald Trump and on behalf of other Republican Senate candidates.

Hovde’s ads include one that falsely accuses Baldwin of “funding a clinic that offers transgender therapy for minors without parental consent” and another that accuses her of helping to fund a nonprofit that “pushes an aggressive LGBTQ agenda on kids without parental involvement.”

The ads come amid a bitter battleground-state race that has tightened in its closing weeks and has featured many personal attacks.

Baldwin and outside Democratic groups have spotlighted that Hovde has largely lived in California in recent years. Hovde has also frequently attacked Baldwin as an out-of-touch career politician.