Evers Is Flush With Cash

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is raising a lot of money.

His campaign announced that for the period January through June 2021 the governor raised $5 million from more than 17,000 individual contributors, with contributions from every county in Wisconsin.

The report “shows Evers in a significantly stronger position than past gubernatorial re-election campaigns,” the campaign announced. “In fact, Evers’ cash-on-hand of $7.3 million is three times higher than what Scott Walker reported at this point in 2017 and 2013 ahead of his re-election campaign.”

Cash on hand, however, reflects not just money raised, but how much has been spent. Walker was a prodigious fundraiser, with huge amounts coming from wealthy, out-of-state Republican donors and raised and spent $36.2 million on his losing 2018 reelection campaign, compared to just $10.8 million raised and spent by Evers, as the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) reported.

Of course, Evers is now the incumbent, which makes it far easier to raise money. He raised $3.8 million in 2020, as Urban Milwaukee reported. “We aren’t taking anything for granted – that’s why we’re starting early and building the strong foundation we need to re-elect Governor Evers in 2022,” said Tony for Wisconsin Campaign Manager Cassi Fenili.

He still has a long way to go to match Walker’s totals for the 2018 election. And even if he does, Democrats could be outclassed in third party spending. In 2018, nearly $58 million of the more than $93 million on the governor’s race came from third party spending, with $3 million more of it going to support Walker, as the WDC reported.

But that depends on how strong a candidate the GOP runs against Evers. Walker looked like a strong bet to win reelection in 2018. If Republicans aren’t unified in backing a challenger to Evers (and right now no candidate considering the race has lit a fire with the party), outside funding may not be as strong.