Hovde puts Tammy Baldwin’s Wall Street partner in the spotlight during the Wisconsin debate

The Republican candidate in Wisconsin, businessman Eric Hovde, took several chances Friday evening during the only Senate debate between himself and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., to call her out for refusing to disclose her partner’s finances, calling it a conflict. important.

“Her partner on Wall Street, a Wall Street executive, invests in Big Tech and Big Pharma,” he alleged.

Baldwin’s longtime partner, Maria Brisbane, is a private wealth advisor under Morgan Stanley and focuses on clients with “ultra-high net worth,” according to the Brisbane group’s website.

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Hovde and Baldwin are vying for a competitive seat in the Wisconsin Senate. (Reuters)

However, Brisbane’s clients are unknown due to confidentiality outlined in Morgan Stanley’s code of conduct, and due to the fact that she and Baldwin are not married.

Brisbane and Baldwin have been dating since 2018 and share a home in Washington, DC. Senators are not required to disclose partners’ finances, only spouses.

During questions about health care policy, child care policy and ethics, Hovde drew attention to Baldwin’s “Wall Street partner.”

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Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) speaks during the WisDems 2024 State Convention on June 8, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Wisconsin Democratic Party)

“I’m not taking special interest money like Senator Baldwin,” he said. ‘In fact, her partner makes money from it. And she doesn’t even disclose what profits she makes.”

While Brisbane’s investments are unknown, she has worked with biotechnology companies and funds in her previous roles.

Baldwin’s partner previously managed a biotechnology investment fund, a spokesman said progress report from 2017 for the Cancer Research & Treatment Fund (CR&T).

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Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde speaks during a rally hosted by President Donald Trump on April 2, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In addition, Brisbane has been listed on her company’s previous archived website under Merrill Private Wealth Management, she manages “custom equity portfolios that emphasize high-growth stocks – with an effort to improve performance through small biotechnology and technology companies.”

Hovde specifically pointed to Baldwin’s commission roles that he said may have conflicted with her partner’s work on behalf of wealthy clients.

Baldwin serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

“They don’t disclose those investments and how much they benefit from them,” Hovde said of Baldwin and Brisbane. ‘That is fundamentally wrong. And you must disclose what investments your partner makes.’

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A woman wears a cheese hat with an American flag on it in Wisconsin. (Reuters)

The senator did not feel compelled by her opponent’s argument to make Brisbane’s finances public and tell him to “stay out of my personal life”.

At another point, Baldwin criticized Hovde for focusing on her partner, saying she was instead interested in his “professional life.”

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Present at the swing state debate was Republican Senate Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who was stunned on behalf of Hovde. He claimed that Baldwin was “upset,” and that his Democratic colleague “would have been much happier tonight in Manhattan with Maria than here in Madison, Wisconsin.”

In less than three weeks, the two will go head-to-head in a close Senate battle in Wisconsin, which is being deemed a “toss-up” by the top political expert at the Cook Political Report.

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