The Sconi

Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde has pledged to prioritize border security to stem the flow of deadly drugs into the state and ensure the safety of its residents if elected to the U.S. Senate.

“Wisconsinites are reeling from the effects of the Baldwin border crisis every day,” Hovde wrote in a Sept. 13 social media post on X. “Closing the border, stopping the flow of deadly drugs into our streets, and keeping Wisconsin SAFE will be a top priority for me as your senator.”

Hovde argues that a surge in crime and fentanyl-related deaths is the direct result of his opponent, Senator Tammy Baldwin’s immigration policies. During a segment on Fox News, he highlighted the thousands of American deaths last year due to fentanyl overdoses, including a significant number of young Wisconsinites, as evidence that the crisis is not limited to border states.

“Every state is a border state, and we've had multiple cases of crime all over our state,” Hovde said. “There's so many problematic layers to this open border, and they're killing our young people with fentanyl. It's a poison created in China, sent to the drug cartels, and brought up. We lost 108,000 young Americans last year, and Wisconsin has had their fair share of losses, sadly.”

According to Insight Crime, 4.5 tons of pure fentanyl and 434 tons of methamphetamine are produced in Mexico per year "in order to meet the demand of the US consumption market." The chemical components cost between $9 million and $22.5 million for fentanyl and between $83.3 million and $126.5 million for methamphetamine. Investigations show that the chemical precursors to these synthetic drugs have been imported from China through companies such as the Zheng drug trafficking organizations.

PBS Wisconsin reports that 1,358 Wisconsinites died of opioid overdose in 2022, with a majority of those deaths due to fentanyl. This number is 60% higher than the number of opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin just five years earlier. The hardest-hit age group for synthetic opioid deaths in Wisconsin is young adults aged 18 to 44, who have recorded 40.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

The 2024 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Drug Threat Assessment names fentanyl the deadliest drug in American history, taking the lives of 38,000 Americans in the first six months of 2023. The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have enabled the presence of fentanyl in all 50 U.S. states, producing the drug in Mexico and smuggling it into the United States for profit.

The New York Post reported that Baldwin has voted in favor of immigration policies like instituting sanctuary cities in the past. Though she also formerly opposed legislation for the detention of convicted illegal migrants, she recently voiced favor for the deportation of criminals.

Hovde was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, according to his campaign website. He attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an entrepreneur and founded the charitable organization The Hovde Foundation with his brother.