Campaign Committees Spend Millions in Fight for Wisconsin Legislature
Democratic committees raised more in recent finance reports, but GOP has far more in the bank.
The Wisconsin State Capitol on Monday, July 14, 2025, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Democratic committees hoping to flip the state Legislature raised more money than their GOP counterparts in the closing weeks of the campaign. But, thanks to major cash cushions, the GOP groups outspent them.
Between July 1 and Oct. 19, the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, or RACC, only raised around $281,000 compared to around $5.1 million raised by the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, or ADCC.
It was the same story on the front line of the battle for the state Senate. The Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, or CERS, raised around $242,000. The State Senate Democratic Committee, or SSDC, raised around $1.4 million.
Despite being seriously outraised, the GOP groups were able to spend more on their candidates, canvassing and campaign advertisements in the closing weeks of the election thanks to major stockpiles of cash. At the start of July, RACC had more than $11 million in the bank after previously reporting $9.5 million in donations from conservative billionaires Diane Hendricks and Liz Uihlein. In the final reporting period the group spent around $7 million.
Democrats’ Assembly committee started July with less than half the money its Republican counterpart had but still kept pace on spending. The group shelled out around $6.3 million, thanks to around $1.6 million in transfers from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, $500,000 from billionaire heiress Gwendolyn Sontheim, $300,000 from philanthropist M. Quinn Delaney and $250,000 from real estate executive Gideon Friedman. The group previously reported a $2.5 million donation from philanthropist Sarah O’Neil and around $3.5 million from relatives of the late vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger.
On the Senate side, the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate spent more than $3.4 million from July 1 to Oct. 19, while Democrats’ Senate committee spent around $1.8 million. That’s despite the Democratic group raising nearly six times as much money during the span.
Once again, it came down to savings and large donations from GOP megadonors. The CERS group came into July with around $5 million in the bank, thanks to a combined $6.75 million in donations from Uihlein and Hendricks outlined in previous fundraising reports.
The State Senate Democratic Committee started July with around $1.4 million and posted recent donations of $300,000 from Delaney, $250,000 from Sontheim and $150,000 from investor Ashish Shaskikant Patel. Prior reports this year show O’Neill gave Democrats’ Senate committee a combined $1 million, Delaney contributed $250,000, philanthropist Lynn Schusterman gave $250,000 and Lynde Uihlein, a cousin of the GOP megadonors, gave a combined $450,000.
Campaign committees spend millions in fight for Wisconsin Legislature was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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