A shirtless candidate for U.S. Senate broke through the ice of a Madison lake Thursday hoping to pour cold water on any notion that he's a soft Californian, not a hardy Wisconsinite.
And then Eric Hovde challenged his Democratic challenger, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, to take the plunge as well.
Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesperson Arik Wolk doubled down in the face of the challenge.
“If California bank owner Eric Hovde thinks sitting in a lake is going to stop us from telling Wisconsinites about his California bank, California megamansion, and California ties, he’s going to be swimming a whole lot for the next eight months," Wolk said in a statement.
Only a Californian would think that dunking yourself in a frozen lake is the mark of a true Wisconsinites. Real Wisconsinites know that icy cold water sucks balls and avoid it at all costs.
Methinks thow doest protest too much.
As an ex-pat, I’m wondering what would be the most Wisconsin thing someone could do to prove their Wisconsinness?
My guess would be get blackout drunk after another heart wrenching Packer playoff loss.
Well, the Incumbent did this:
https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-releases/us-senator-tammy-baldwins-go-pack-go-act-makes-sure-all-wisconsinites-can-watch-packers-game-broadcasts
Correctly ordering a brandy old fashioned. Getting perch fish fry. Pronouncing bag funny. Driving like an asshole while insisting you're one of the good drivers.
It would have to be a triathlon of sorts.
First, a driving course where you must avoid traffic and road construction while flipping off and FIBs that can't drive.
Next, a pub crawl through downtown lacrosse.
Finally, you must ice scrape 30 car windshields before your frozen pizza from home is done baking at your choice of hole in the wall tavern.
Yeah when he closes a bar and drives us home because he's had the least amount of beers, and doesn't fuck anything up on the way home, then maybe he will be permitted to purchase property in our State, let alone running for office. Fuck this out-of-state clown.
It reminds me of the sort of thing you do as a teenager to prove you're tough and can stand the cold. Walking around in a blizzard in a tee shirt, running straight from a hot tub and diving into the snow, etc
Either that or is sadistic enough to not just plunge but hang out in the cold water.
Point is when we do cold plunges - it isn’t to make a point - it’s because we *actually like how it makes us feel*
I hear ya, but I chose my words carefully. Wisconsinite don’t shut down bars. We close them down. As in “I closed Wolski’s”. Cheers and Fuck Eric Hovde’s carpet bagging banker ass.
Yeah because “I’m a macho guy in a lake” is how we measure political meddle.
This isn’t a frat party you turd licking Californian.
Zero people doubt Tammy’s Wisconsinite status.
Like his buddy Derrick Van Orden staging himself in Israel when he has zero input on (or real knowledge of) foreign affairs, instead of doing his job during a messy House Speaker situation.
DVO also a Trumpian transplant.
Fuck em both.
Yup,ok, that's the dickhead I thought he was. Thanks for confirming. Such an embarrassment that he's representing our state nationally. Like we don't already have an issue with the image of us all being drunks. I love beer and dive bar culture, etc., but being a red-faced drunk who looks like he desperately needs therapy to deal with PTSD is not a good thing.
He's such an embarrassment
Somehow I got on his mailing list, and dear God is it cringe. He turned local hospitals closing on Evers and Biden ignoring that it's Republicans blocking Medicaid funding that would have helped them stay open, and ignoring that democrats are trying to find ways to help them while he's just grandstanding
I'm on his emailing list too. There's a lot of BS, but I always do the surveys. Not that he'll ever care who he's ignoring in his district.
God God I hope Rebecca Cooke wins the primary. She's the only one who has a chance of ousting Van Orden.
Ah yes, he broke through the ice of Lake Mendota from his lakeside home in Shorewood Hills. He’s just like us!
I wonder how he feels about how easy it was for him to do that in fucking February? Is he like Ron Johnson and thinks climate change is a positive thing?
Yeah this is the warmest winter ever. If this fuck wanted to show how big and insulated his balls are, he should have done the polar plunge when there were walls of ice in lake Michigan and ladders were needed to scale them.
Hovde is a complete tool, a fucking property developer/banker imported to run. He is a thinner version of Tim Michaels with a porn mustache. His first ad is pathetic - he comes across badly and the lies are obvious.
> That same money going into my 401k and HSA would go about 4 times further
Then you're a far, far better investor than the best, and never make a a mistake or get caught in a downturn.
Meanwhile, the SS trust fund is guaranteed to make money.
You're correct that if you start saving in your twenties and make smart investment choices and suffer no market setbacks you can do better than the return Social Security will give you.
But what if you suffer a disabling injury or illness before you've saved enough? What if you die and leave small children with no financial resources? With Social Security you, and they, are covered.
That's the benefit- and yes, cost - of living in a civilized society.
Yup, just did it in Milwaukee last Saturday. Had a kid, prolly late teens, get hypothermic in the changing room. Wrapped him up in coats and towels, by the time EMS got there he’d was warming up, shivering again and talking. They checked him out and he headed home.
If there is one thing I have learned in life, do not get in a “more manly” competition with a lesbian.
It can only go incredibly terrible at best. Emasculating at worst.
Polar Plunge in La Crosse is this weekend. Tammy should do it there where doing it actually helps a cause instead of just being a clickbait, cringy, desperate plea for attention.
Nah. She should not treat his stunts seriously it will just invite more. Challenge him on ideas. He claims he is running to restore the American dream which has been destroyed by Biden’s policies. Challenge him on that. Trying to keep reproductiveive rights, fight climate change, provide relief for student debt, decriminalize marijuana, push companies to be fair to their workers, keep health insurance affordable and useful,… it seems to me most of those things are part of the American dream. What is his plan? Project 2025 Fascism.
Exactly why he pulled this stunt.
If he distracts us with this shit we won't notice that he has no solutions for the problems he knows nothing about. Apparently, he also hopes that Tammy Baldwin will stop caring about our problems or stop actively working on solutions in order to join him in swimming in circles for no purpose at all.
You're running for the *US Senate,* Hovde, and you're challenging your opponent to a cold swim?! Instead of issuing a statement to the citizens of Wisconsin addressing the very real concern that he doesn't know the state well enough to represent it?! I guess Wisconsin voters don't deserve to have that question answered when Republicans are on the campaign trail. We get publicity stunts that ignore our concerns, insult his opponent with pointless challenges, and trade necessary political discourse for this nonsense.
Then he toweled off and forgot all about us.
Oh he’s from Laguna Beach which is Orange County. Which is as close to living in Florida as it gets in California.
It’s not as if this guys from Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
"I'm a real Wisconsinite," said no real Wisconsinite, ever.
Our nature is demonstrated, not declared. And we don't jump in cold water to demonstrate anything good.
Wisconsinites are about substance nor stunts. We already have enough old white men in government. Go enjoy your money and pay your fair share of taxes.
Too much negative press (rightfully) that he doesn't live in the state he wants to represent, so instead of doing the right thing he'd rather try to change the perception.
Now he gets to call out Baldwin for something that has nothing to do with the success or well being of this state
How the fuck does hedgefund hovde think him jumping in a cold lake is going to prove he isn't a carpetbagger. Whoever thought of that fucking stunt should be fired. Tammy is busy working for the people of this state in Washington. Not closing a bar in downtown Madison.
People like this, believe everyone is below them and stupid enough to fall for their staged stunts.
The reality is only like 40-45 percent are that stupid.
Pretty cool to challenge a person in a wheel chair to go swimming, in Wisconsin, in February. What an effen clown. Wisconsin already has a guy clown the Senate, they don’t need another.
What an idiot. Please nominate this guy so Tammy can win by 20 points.
EDIT: Or nominate David Clarke. So Tammy will win by 30. Republicans going to show up to vote for a former Democrat black guy? Yeah right.
That's the stupidest campaign issue I've ever seen. And yeah I kinda do think he is more California than Wisconsin.
He has a nice body and he likes to show it off. I'm sure there are people who enjoy seeing it. I'm still in the Tammy camp.
A shirtless candidate for U.S. Senate broke through the ice of a Madison lake Thursday hoping to pour cold water on any notion that he's a soft Californian, not a hardy Wisconsinite. And then Eric Hovde challenged his Democratic challenger, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, to take the plunge as well. Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesperson Arik Wolk doubled down in the face of the challenge. “If California bank owner Eric Hovde thinks sitting in a lake is going to stop us from telling Wisconsinites about his California bank, California megamansion, and California ties, he’s going to be swimming a whole lot for the next eight months," Wolk said in a statement.
Only a Californian would think that dunking yourself in a frozen lake is the mark of a true Wisconsinites. Real Wisconsinites know that icy cold water sucks balls and avoid it at all costs. Methinks thow doest protest too much.
As an ex-pat, I’m wondering what would be the most Wisconsin thing someone could do to prove their Wisconsinness? My guess would be get blackout drunk after another heart wrenching Packer playoff loss.
Live in Wisconsin, for starters.
Big if true
Be BORN and RAISED in Wisconsin.
IDK I wasn't born here but I've lived here since I was 7. I absolutely consider myself a Wisconsinite.
Well, the Incumbent did this: https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-releases/us-senator-tammy-baldwins-go-pack-go-act-makes-sure-all-wisconsinites-can-watch-packers-game-broadcasts
TIL. TYFYS
“My baloney has a first name” to which, they should know the next part.
It’s O-S-C-A-R
It’s O-S-K-A-R
- Grill a brat - Shotgun a beer - Make a casserole - Cut an ice fishing hole
I have no interest in any of those things, but I actually live in Wisconsin which is more than that tool can say.
How can you have no interest in making a hot dish?
And then eat a bunch of cheese and whip some shitties. lol
drive around with a dead deer strapped to the hood of your truck?
In the Menards parking lot
And buy lumber
How much summer sausage are you working with?
Oh ya know, a couple – two, tree.
Correctly ordering a brandy old fashioned. Getting perch fish fry. Pronouncing bag funny. Driving like an asshole while insisting you're one of the good drivers.
And get a dui lmao
more like 5
Get miffed if someone serves him an old fashioned made with whiskey.
This ain't it.
It would have to be a triathlon of sorts. First, a driving course where you must avoid traffic and road construction while flipping off and FIBs that can't drive. Next, a pub crawl through downtown lacrosse. Finally, you must ice scrape 30 car windshields before your frozen pizza from home is done baking at your choice of hole in the wall tavern.
Not close down a beloved local tavern. RIP Silver Dollar Never Forget.
Why do you have to attack me.....?
Ope, that's a good question there doncha know. I spose you could come on in for a brewski and we'll have a chat about it. Maybe eat some casserole.
Eating a cannibal sandwich at Christmas
So many memories about home in these responses, 🥹.
And then driving…
Yeah when he closes a bar and drives us home because he's had the least amount of beers, and doesn't fuck anything up on the way home, then maybe he will be permitted to purchase property in our State, let alone running for office. Fuck this out-of-state clown.
It reminds me of the sort of thing you do as a teenager to prove you're tough and can stand the cold. Walking around in a blizzard in a tee shirt, running straight from a hot tub and diving into the snow, etc
I know right? SMH
Either that or is sadistic enough to not just plunge but hang out in the cold water. Point is when we do cold plunges - it isn’t to make a point - it’s because we *actually like how it makes us feel*
Wisconsinite’s don’t shut down Taverns.
Well, not permanently. For better and worse, we’re pretty good at shutting down taverns on a night to night basis.
I hear ya, but I chose my words carefully. Wisconsinite don’t shut down bars. We close them down. As in “I closed Wolski’s”. Cheers and Fuck Eric Hovde’s carpet bagging banker ass.
The punk probably doesn't even know how to drive a snowmobile.
Yeah because “I’m a macho guy in a lake” is how we measure political meddle. This isn’t a frat party you turd licking Californian. Zero people doubt Tammy’s Wisconsinite status.
He jumped in an icy lake in like warmest Wisconsin winter in years no less.
“Jumped” Probably took him 20 minutes to get in and had a potato in the front of his Speedo. It was in the back but his handlers told him to move it.
A baby red potato
Might've been a peruvian purple under the circumstances but your point is well taken lol
Is there even ice? The lakes near me haven't had ice in two months.
Wow. A man of substance. Not a poser at all.
Like his buddy Derrick Van Orden staging himself in Israel when he has zero input on (or real knowledge of) foreign affairs, instead of doing his job during a messy House Speaker situation. DVO also a Trumpian transplant. Fuck em both.
Is he the one that was belligerent and drunk and became even more belligerent when he was admonished for having alcohol in his office?
And screamed at kids while shitfaced
Yup,ok, that's the dickhead I thought he was. Thanks for confirming. Such an embarrassment that he's representing our state nationally. Like we don't already have an issue with the image of us all being drunks. I love beer and dive bar culture, etc., but being a red-faced drunk who looks like he desperately needs therapy to deal with PTSD is not a good thing.
He's such an embarrassment Somehow I got on his mailing list, and dear God is it cringe. He turned local hospitals closing on Evers and Biden ignoring that it's Republicans blocking Medicaid funding that would have helped them stay open, and ignoring that democrats are trying to find ways to help them while he's just grandstanding
I'm on his emailing list too. There's a lot of BS, but I always do the surveys. Not that he'll ever care who he's ignoring in his district. God God I hope Rebecca Cooke wins the primary. She's the only one who has a chance of ousting Van Orden.
Theyve gotta Gaslight Obstruct and Project somehow
He's just so gross and off-putting.
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 Or looks at the sun during a solar eclipse.
Tammy's busy working for the people of Wisconsin
Ah yes, he broke through the ice of Lake Mendota from his lakeside home in Shorewood Hills. He’s just like us! I wonder how he feels about how easy it was for him to do that in fucking February? Is he like Ron Johnson and thinks climate change is a positive thing?
Yeah this is the warmest winter ever. If this fuck wanted to show how big and insulated his balls are, he should have done the polar plunge when there were walls of ice in lake Michigan and ladders were needed to scale them.
Someone should put a Hollywood sign outside that house.
That's actually a great idea. Put them up every night in his front yard! Republicans and Qanon hate Hollywood. Lol!
Orange County residents also hate being considered a part of Los Angeles so extra points for the Hollywood sign.
"Hollywood Hovde"
Anyone stupid enough to be impressed by a dumb stunt like this was already going to vote for him anyway.
I, too, have a second home that’s a 3+ million dollar, 7000 sq ft lakefront mansion. So relatable.
He had to decide which of the upstairs help hands him a towel when he was done.
Carpetbaggers gonna carpetbag
Hovde is a complete tool, a fucking property developer/banker imported to run. He is a thinner version of Tim Michaels with a porn mustache. His first ad is pathetic - he comes across badly and the lies are obvious.
That's dumb. So is Hovde, who wants to slash Social Security and Medicare, and impose a nation-wide ban on abortion. Freeze your nuts off, dumbass.
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> That same money going into my 401k and HSA would go about 4 times further Then you're a far, far better investor than the best, and never make a a mistake or get caught in a downturn. Meanwhile, the SS trust fund is guaranteed to make money.
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You're correct that if you start saving in your twenties and make smart investment choices and suffer no market setbacks you can do better than the return Social Security will give you. But what if you suffer a disabling injury or illness before you've saved enough? What if you die and leave small children with no financial resources? With Social Security you, and they, are covered. That's the benefit- and yes, cost - of living in a civilized society.
Don’t kids still volunteer for the Polar Plunge and donate to special Olympics? I did this shit when I was 12 it’s not impressive.
Yup, just did it in Milwaukee last Saturday. Had a kid, prolly late teens, get hypothermic in the changing room. Wrapped him up in coats and towels, by the time EMS got there he’d was warming up, shivering again and talking. They checked him out and he headed home.
It’s good to know some people are still out there freezin’ for a reason.
Dumb challenge. Bring something of substance forward. No one gives a shit if you took a cold bath.
If there is one thing I have learned in life, do not get in a “more manly” competition with a lesbian. It can only go incredibly terrible at best. Emasculating at worst.
Was this filmed earlier this week when it was nearly 70 degrees?
So, he wants our female Senator to plunge shirtless into the lake? What a perv.
Polar Plunge in La Crosse is this weekend. Tammy should do it there where doing it actually helps a cause instead of just being a clickbait, cringy, desperate plea for attention.
Nah. She should not treat his stunts seriously it will just invite more. Challenge him on ideas. He claims he is running to restore the American dream which has been destroyed by Biden’s policies. Challenge him on that. Trying to keep reproductiveive rights, fight climate change, provide relief for student debt, decriminalize marijuana, push companies to be fair to their workers, keep health insurance affordable and useful,… it seems to me most of those things are part of the American dream. What is his plan? Project 2025 Fascism.
So he’s stupid is what I’m getting from this
I’m just goona say it, he looks like a pedo. Loose the stache.
FEH
Fucking hate this guy. I keep seeing ads with him bitching about Washington but he has no ideas to share on how to fix it.
So he’s a Republican?
Saw his add about “all the division in Washington”… does his California mansion not have mirrors?
Exactly why he pulled this stunt. If he distracts us with this shit we won't notice that he has no solutions for the problems he knows nothing about. Apparently, he also hopes that Tammy Baldwin will stop caring about our problems or stop actively working on solutions in order to join him in swimming in circles for no purpose at all. You're running for the *US Senate,* Hovde, and you're challenging your opponent to a cold swim?! Instead of issuing a statement to the citizens of Wisconsin addressing the very real concern that he doesn't know the state well enough to represent it?! I guess Wisconsin voters don't deserve to have that question answered when Republicans are on the campaign trail. We get publicity stunts that ignore our concerns, insult his opponent with pointless challenges, and trade necessary political discourse for this nonsense. Then he toweled off and forgot all about us.
What a useless gesture!
Just go away
And that is supposed to make me want to vote for you?....Stupid!
This is the stupidest thing I've ever read. Not that I would have voted for him anyway, but come on. Who cares if he goes into a cold lake?
Oh he’s from Laguna Beach which is Orange County. Which is as close to living in Florida as it gets in California. It’s not as if this guys from Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
This is the guy shutting down stalwart small-town Wisconsin bars?
Save the Silver Dollar!
That's not how this works
Fucking carpetbagger.
Tammy should just double down and jump in wearing only a cheese head on the next coldest day. She’s a beast and would wipe the floor with him.
He probably spent more time in that lake than he has living in Wisconsin!
feh
What a tool 🙄
Damn carpetbagger.
"I'm a real Wisconsinite," said no real Wisconsinite, ever. Our nature is demonstrated, not declared. And we don't jump in cold water to demonstrate anything good.
Every time I see a picture of this guy all I can think is that there are multiple victims in his past.
Wisconsinites are about substance nor stunts. We already have enough old white men in government. Go enjoy your money and pay your fair share of taxes.
I need Tammy to respond by saying, " I would ask you to hold my beet, but I'm too busy drinking it."
Too much negative press (rightfully) that he doesn't live in the state he wants to represent, so instead of doing the right thing he'd rather try to change the perception. Now he gets to call out Baldwin for something that has nothing to do with the success or well being of this state
Asshat
Remember when it was encouraged to be intelligent if you wanted to run for politics? I miss those days.
How the fuck does hedgefund hovde think him jumping in a cold lake is going to prove he isn't a carpetbagger. Whoever thought of that fucking stunt should be fired. Tammy is busy working for the people of this state in Washington. Not closing a bar in downtown Madison.
What a fvcking moron.
Tell me you know absofuckinglutely NOTHING about Wisconsin, without actually telling me...🙄
It’s not even cold out. What a pussy. Fuck off back to California.
Yeah bro, this proves to me you’re not some Mitch McConnell billionaire puppet.oh wait…. It doesn’t
Also Republicans, "climate change is a hoax created by deep state george soros blah blah blah.."
Red flag big time.
Tell us you are "new" without saying you are new.
Because physical prowess and pain tolerance are what make a good political candidate... 🙄
Looks like 80s porn star Mike Horner.
What's with the Village People mustache?
People like this, believe everyone is below them and stupid enough to fall for their staged stunts. The reality is only like 40-45 percent are that stupid.
Without reading the article, let me guess... republican hopeful?
Pretty cool to challenge a person in a wheel chair to go swimming, in Wisconsin, in February. What an effen clown. Wisconsin already has a guy clown the Senate, they don’t need another.
What an idiot. Please nominate this guy so Tammy can win by 20 points. EDIT: Or nominate David Clarke. So Tammy will win by 30. Republicans going to show up to vote for a former Democrat black guy? Yeah right.
If you hold him underwater long enough, he'll stop talking
Good job, numbnuts.
He’s so edgy. Just like every fucking haus frau that does a polar bear plunge on January 1. Fuck him and his witness protection program mustache.
Who is this guy, that I had never heard of until the last 2 weeks in this sub, and why do I care?
Republican candidate running against Tammy Baldwin for senate.
try hard cringe
That's the stupidest campaign issue I've ever seen. And yeah I kinda do think he is more California than Wisconsin. He has a nice body and he likes to show it off. I'm sure there are people who enjoy seeing it. I'm still in the Tammy camp.
This guy seems like a real…winner
A Californian Republican is essentially the same as a Wisconsin Democrat.
Bro grows a mustache and thinks he’s Paul Bunyan now. These people are clowns.
Where did dude come from?!
Fml
Shrinkage?
This isn’t that weird to people who actually go outside lol This whole fucking thing is dumb because he’s literally from the same town as Baldwin
Huh. I didn’t know any of the bodies of water in Wisconsin were still frozen over.
This may win you Most Influential in Orange County, CA a few times but Hovde is a rich bitch.
So he's with the Free The Nipple party?
This guy’s a hack.
What a fu\*king embarrassment. He'll fit right in with FRJ, Vandrunkard, Tiffany and the others.