Skip to content

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024

Did Eric Hovde call for banning beer sales?


no

An ad by the liberal super PAC WinSenate mischaracterizes what Republican Eric Hovde said about beer sales.

Hovde is running Nov. 5, 2024, against U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin.

The ad says: “How do you know a politician’s not from around here? How about calling for a ban on beer sales? … And he actually said that.”

The ad alludes to a March Rolling Stone article. It reported Hovde in 2017 responded to a question about legalizing marijuana by saying:

“So, if we just decriminalize (marijuana)? Fine. … Frankly, it should have happened with alcohol. … Alcohol has a lot of negative byproducts. If somebody wanted to distill it, drink it. Fine, go ahead. But, sadly, as we know, it’s produced a lot of negative byproducts. … And saying that, I think the cat’s out of the — or, the horse is out of the barn, and it’s going to be hard to put back.”

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Learn More

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.