State Democrats Raise 5 Times More Than Republicans
Democrats have overtaken GOP fundraising since Republicans changed campaign finance laws.
Cash. (CC0 Creative Commons).
The state Democratic Party raised more than $7.2 million in 2021, nearly five times more than the state GOP, which took in $1.5 million.
Year-end campaign finance reports filed for the parties’ regular state and segregated accounts also showed the state Democratic Party had cash balances totaling $2.47 million as of Dec. 31, which was more than 15 times the $161,114 that the state Republican Party had in the bank at the time.
Fundraising by the major state parties has sharply increased in recent years due largely to changes in state campaign finance laws enacted in 2015 (see Bar Chart below). That’s when former GOP Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature approved legislation allowing individuals to give unlimited amounts to political parties. The previous individual contribution limit was $10,000 a year. The changes also allowed political parties to accept contributions from corporations for the first time in more than 100 years.
Combined State Party Funding in Odd-Numbered Years, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Ironically, state Democratic Party fundraising has steadily increased and state GOP fundraising has been declining since the 2015 changes to state campaign finance laws by the Republicans.
In comparable, odd-numbered years, the record $7.25 million raised by the Democratic Party in 2021 more than doubled the $3.45 million the party raised just two years ago in 2019. The party’s 2021 fundraising nearly quadrupled the $1.96 million it raised in 2017 and was 13 times higher than the $562,783 the party raised in 2015.
Meanwhile, state GOP fundraising increased from $1.95 million in 2015 to a record $3.2 million for an odd-numbered year in 2017 before dropping to $1.88 million in 2019 and $1.52 million in 2021.
For 2021, the state Democratic Party raised more than $5.2 million from individuals, about 10 times more than the $531,328 in individual contributions raised by the state GOP. The campaign finance reports showed the Democratic Party had sharply more five- and six-figure contributors than the state GOP.
Here are the contributors who gave $50,000 or more to the state Democratic Party in 2021:
Karla Jurvetson, a Los Altos, Calif. physician, $981,000;
Elise Lawson, a Madison surgeon, $960,000;
Tony for Wisconsin, which is Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’s campaign committee, $608,237;
George Soros, a New York City investor and philanthropist, $500,000;
Reid Hoffman, of Mountain View, Calif., co-founder of LinkedIn, $490,000;
Florida Democratic Party, $250,000;
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, $250,000;
Edward Snowdon, a New York City theatrical producer, $200,000;
Deborah Kern, of Fox Point, president of the Garden Room and Anaba Tea Room, $180,000;
Stephen Silberstein, of Belvedere, Calif., retired co-founder of Innovative Interfaces, $165,000;
Lynde Uihlein, Milwaukee philanthropist, $150,000;
Robert Price, of La Jolla, Calif., chairman of PriceSmart Inc., $140,000;
William Reeves, of Honolulu, HI., hedge fund manager, $140,000;
John C. Miller, Kohler, retired owner of Miller St. Nazianz, $75,000;
John W. Miller, Fox Point, founder of Arenberg Holdings, $75,000;
Barton Burstein, Palo Alto, Calif., founder or executive at numerous Silicon Valley technology companies, $65,000;
Clay Kirk, New York City, retired investor and president of the Spray Foundation, $60,000;
Alida Messinger, St. Paul, Minn., philanthropist and an heir to the Rockefeller family fortune, $50,000.
Here are the top contributors to the state Republican Party in 2021:
Don Zietlow, Onalaska, owner of Kwik Trip, $100,000;
Diane Hendricks, Beloit, owner of ABC Supply, $97,000;
Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, $80,000;
Louis P. Gentine, of Elkhart Lake, retired owner of Sargento Foods, $50,000;
Kathryn Burke, of Milwaukee, owner of Burke Properties, $35,000;
Kim Hendricks, of Janesville, a retired ABC Supply vice president, $30,000;
Richard Uihlein, of Lake Forest, Ill., founder of Uline, $25,000;
Stephen Ziegler, of Oconomowoc, owner of Inpro Corp., $20,000.
State Dems Raised Nearly 5x More Than State GOP in 2021 was originally published by Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
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