# Eric Hovde Madison businessman and banker who ran as the Trump-backed Republican nominee against [[Tammy Baldwin]] for U.S. Senate in 2024 and lost by about 0.9 points. He is CEO of Hovde Properties, the real-estate company his grandfather founded in 1933; CEO and chairman of the bank holding company H Bancorp; and CEO of Sunwest Bank. His father, Donald Hovde, was HUD undersecretary under Reagan. He first ran in 2012, spending $6.3 million (over 90% of it his own money) and losing the Republican primary to [[Tommy Thompson]]. In 2024 he raised $7.6 million and lent himself $20 million (WPR). Baldwin's campaign hit him over a nearly $7 million Laguna Beach, California, estate he bought in 2018, and over remarks that most nursing-home residents are "not at a point to vote." Before entering he was the national-party favorite, a choice former sheriff [[David Clarke]] publicly attacked. He did not allege vote-counting problems after losing, but blamed a Democratic "plant": a fourth-place America First Party candidate whose total exceeded the margin (PBS Wisconsin). In 2020 he ran TV ads against Gov. [[Tony Evers]]'s COVID-19 stay-at-home order.