GOP Group In D.C. Targets Josh Kaul

A Washington, D.C. group that supports GOP state attorney general candidates across the country has reserved nearly $700,000 in advertising space in October in the Milwaukee television market to support whoever wins the Republican nomination for attorney general in Wisconsin.

The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), a 527 group that can raise and spend unlimited amounts from any source, plans to spend $682,250 to run ads from Oct. 5 through Nov. 8, according to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review.

RAGA uses a state committee called the Wisconsin Freedom PAC to make disclosed independent expenditures in Wisconsin. In 2018, Wisconsin Freedom PAC spent more than $2.8 million to oppose Democrat Josh Kaul, who defeated incumbent GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel.

RAGA spent more than any other outside electioneering group in the 2018 attorney general race, which saw a record $14 million in spending by candidates and groups.

For his 2022 reelection, Kaul will face the Republican winner of the Aug. 9 primary between Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, Chippewa Falls attorney Karen Mueller, and former GOP legislator Adam Jarchow, a Balsam Lake attorney. The general election is Nov. 8.

So far, the Democracy Campaign has found no evidence of spending or planned spending by other groups in the attorney general race.

Early last year, an arm of RAGA called the Rule of Law Defense Fund helped organize a protest that turned into the deadly Jan. 6 mob attack at the U.S. Capitol. Robocalls made by the group urged listeners to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally and provided the time and location of the protest.