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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

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-Wis.

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.”

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

Sources

AdImpact: Beer 30s

WisPolitics: WinSenate ad knocks Hovde’s criticism of alcohol sales – WisPolitics

OpenSecrets: WinSenate PAC Outside Spending • OpenSecrets

Washington Examiner: Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate suggested banning alcohol sales in state known for its booze: Report – Washington Examiner

Rolling Stone: GOP Senate Candidate Took Bold Stance Against the Sale of Alcohol … in Wisconsin

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Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time Milwaukee-based reporter in October 2024 after starting as a freelance Fact Briefs reporter in January 2023. In addition to contributing to Wisconsin Watch’s collaboration with The Gigafact Project to combat online misinformation, he reports on Wisconsin policy, labor, energy and the rapid expansion of data centers across the state. Kertscher is a former longtime reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and the author of two sports books, on Al McGuire and Brett Favre.