GOP Senate hopeful thinks alcohol should only be legal for those who distill it themselves

A Wisconsin Republican hopeful for Senate told a group of Republican voters in Jefferson County that he doesn't think alcohol ever should have been legal for "commercialized" sale.

According to Rolling Stone's Tessa Stuart, real estate developer Eric Hovde made the comments during a 2017 GOP "Pints and Politics" event in Johnson Creek, when he was considering a Senate run in that upcoming midterm, during a broader discussion about the legalization of marijuana.

"I get the argument that marijuana is a lot less harmful than any other drug — including, arguably, alcohol — and that kids [might] try marijuana because it’s illegal, and think ‘Oh, I handled that, so I can try something harder.’ So, I get that argument from people that are pro-marijuana. … The easier solution would [be] to just decriminalize it. Don’t make it a commercial enterprise," said Hovde.

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He went on to say he feels the same about alcohol. “I mean look at — 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 as a part of society. I don’t think adding more negative byproducts to society is a healthy thing." He added 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.”

The alcohol industry is massive in Wisconsin, noted Stuart; Milwaukee is sometimes called the "beer capital of the world," and there are about three times as many bars in the state as grocery stores.

Hovde, who would be challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, is known for waging a 25-year battle to tear down a beloved neighborhood bar in the state capital of Madison.