Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde expressed doubts about the 2020 election results by arguing nursing home residents are too close to death to vote, newly released audio shows.
Hovde made the comments on the conservative Guy Benson Show, in audio obtained by the Heartland Signal, when he was asked where he stood on former President Donald Trump's ongoing conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
"I'm not going to spend my time talking about 2020," said Hovde. "Do I believe the election was stolen? No, but did things happen in that election that were very troublesome? Absolutely, and I can point them out right here in Wisconsin. We had Zuckerbucks come into Democratic cities to push out — working with cities to push out Democratic votes."
"Zuckerbucks" is a derogatory term Republican activists have used for private grants by businesses and philanthropists to help local officials run their elections — so called because of the insinuation that wealthy individuals like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg use them to influence turnout or election procedures in favor of candidates or policies they want. Several states, including Wisconsin, have recently enacted laws prohibiting or limiting this practice.
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Hovde continued, "We had nursing homes, where the sheriff of Racine investigated, where you had 100 percent voting in nursing homes. Well, if you're in a nursing home, you only have a five, six-month life expectancy. Almost nobody in a nursing home is in a point to vote."
Trump and his supporters have made similar claims in the past, that vote tallies in nursing homes were suspiciously high. This has been repeatedly debunked — voter turnout from nursing homes was nowhere hear 100 percent and not out of the ordinary.
Hovde, a banking and real estate development executive, has already faced a number of controversies in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. He came under scrutiny over a multi-decade-long fight to tear down a beloved family bar in Madison, and has said that in his ideal world, alcohol wouldn't be legal for commercial sale.
Listen to the audio below or at the link here.