Did Eric Hovde say farmers don’t work hard?

Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde did not say in a 2012 interview that farmers don’t work hard.

Hovde ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and is challenging U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., in 2024.

A Baldwin TV ad claimed Hovde “says that farmers don’t work hard,” then shows an eight-second clip from the interview.

Discussing health care, Hovde described historical changes in U.S. occupations, saying:

“Look, we’re not having to deal with as many issues as we did in the past. We don’t engage in hard labor like we did, we don’t have as many accidents on the job, most of us now are involved in some type of white-collar profession, or even professions that are involved with manual labor. It’s much safer, much more protective. Think of farming. Look at the old physical toil that it would take on your body, now you’re largely driving around on a tractor.”