WI Democratic Party Has 29 Times More Campaign Cash Than GOP

The state Democratic Party had $3.62 million in its campaign accounts as of July 25, about 29 times more than the $126,851 that the state GOP had in its regular state and segregated campaign coffers.

Campaign finance reports covering Jan. 1 through July 25 also showed state Democrats raised $11.13 million, about eight times more than the $1.39 million taken in by state Republicans.

During a comparable period in 2018 when there were also elections for governor, the state’s other constitutional offices, and the legislature, the state Republican Party had the advantage. During that period, state Democrats raised $2.66 million and had $365,882 in their campaign accounts. The state Republican Party raised $2.83 million and had $880,767 in the bank.

State party fundraising has escalated during the past six years due to sweeping changes to campaign finance laws enacted in 2015 by former GOP Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature. Those changes included allowing individuals to give unlimited contributions to political parties (the old limit was $10,000), increased political action committee (PAC) limits, and allowing political parties to accept contributions from corporations for the first time in more than 100 years.

The top individual contributors to the state Democratic Party between Jan. 1 and July 25 were:

Karla Jurvetson, a Los Altos, CA physician, $2,500,020;

Sage Weil, of Madison, a software engineer who founded Ceph, WebRing, DreamHost, and InkTank, $1,480,025;

George Soros, a New York City investor and philanthropist, $1,000,000;

Reid Hoffman, of Mountain View, CA, co-founder of LinkedIn, $490,000;

Lisa Mennet, of Seattle, WA, founder of a mental health services clinic for children, $430,000;

Lisa Minsky-Primus, of New York City, a physician with Aspire Healthcare, $400,000;

Edward Snowdon Jr., a New York City theatrical producer, $390,000;

Deborah Kern, of Fox Point, president of the Garden Room and Anaba Tea Room, $250,000;

J.B. Pritzker, of Chicago, governor of Illinois, $250,000;

Gwendolyn Sontheim, Minnetonka, MN, whose family founded and owns Cargill, $250,000;

Lynn Schusterman, Tulsa, OK, founder of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, $240,000;

Stacy Schusterman, Tulsa, OK, chairman of the Samson Energy Co., $240,000;

Ronald Conway, of San Francisco, CA, founder of SV Angel, $145,000;

Lynde Uihlein, of Milwaukee, president of the Brico Fund, $140,000;

Robert Price, La Jolla, CA, chairman of PriceSmart, $130,000;

Yaron Minsky, of New York City, technology group chief at Jane Street, $100,000;

William Harris, of Lexington, MA, orthopeadic surgeon and founder of the Harris Orthopaedics Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, $100,000;

Bradford Smith, Bellevue, WA, senior vice president of technology at QuoteWizard, $100,000;

John W. Miller, of Fox Point, founder and principal at Arenberg Holdings, $100,000;

Deborah J. Simon, Carmel, IN, an heir to the family-owned Simon Property Group, $100,000;

Julie Flessas, of Mequon, owner of the Flessas Law Firm, $100,000.

The top individual contributors to the state Republican Party between Jan. 1 and July 25 were:

Diane Hendricks, of Beloit, owner of ABC Supply, $519,000;

Elizabeth Uihlein, of Lake Bluff, IL, co-founder of Uline, $100,000;

Louis and Michele Gentine, of Elkhart Lake, retired owners of Sargento Foods, $50,000.