Tiffany’s Donation from College Republicans Looks Smelly

Tom Tiffany. (Public Domain).

On January 8 the Wisconsin College Republicans announced “they will be major players in the 2026 election cycle and beyond, launching the largest political effort in their organization’s history.”

“We have already raised more than $1 million this cycle,” Wisconsin College Republicans Chair Nicholas Jacobs declared, “and we are gearing up for a major push in 2026.”

By contrast, The Young Democrats of Wisconsin listed just $2,517 in donations from 20 individuals in the most recent July-December filing period. In a prior year it raised just $9,621 from 55 donors, according to Transparency USA, which tracks campaign finance data.

How did the young Republicans bury the young Democrats in donations? As Isthmus was the first to report, that $1 million came from two donations of $500,000 each from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of the Wisconsin business supply company Uline, who are among the leading donors to Republican candidates nationally.

“All told, the Uihlein contributions make up more than 83 percent of all the money the College Republican group has raised since 2009,” WPR reported.

After receiving the $1 million, the Wisconsin College Republicans turned around and gave $86,000 of it to the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany.

All of which is highly unusual. For starters, it dramatizes just how broken the campaign finance laws are.

“This is what happens when campaign finance laws are written to benefit the wealthiest among us,” said Nick Ramos, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. “These college students didn’t raise $1 million from small-dollar donors across the state. They were the beneficiaries of a system that allows wealthy donors to write unlimited checks to party committees, meaning donors like the Uihleins can drop $500,000 in an instant.”

It also looks like an obvious end-run around the state law which allows a maximum contribution of $20,000 by any individual to a campaign. Both of the Uihleins had already given a max donation to Tiffany, so they used the College Republicans to launder another $86,000 — the maximum donation for any political action committee under state law — to Tiffany’s campaign.

“The use of the college Republicans to funnel money into a campaign like this is unprecedented,” says a veteran Democratic consultant. “I’ve never seen this done by a party in Wisconsin.”

The $86,000 donation also runs afoul of the neutrality required by the Wisconsin Republican Party: the party’s constitution doesn’t allow endorsements in statewide elections until after the party’s annual convention.

“College Republicans act as a subset of the Republican Party under the law,” says the Democratic consultant. “By doing it this way, The Republican Party officially remains neutral in the primary, but Tiffany benefits from the Uihlein’s largess.”

Tiffany still faces a primary against Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, but it’s pretty clear the party insiders have already picked their candidate. Sorry, Josh. (Schoemann’s campaign declined to comment on this story.)

Perhaps the smelliest part of this story is the cynical lesson taught to young Republicans, that it’s okay to flout state law and violate the state Republican constitution and that the desires of wealthy donors take precedence over such petty considerations.

“Billionaires like the Uihleins are not investing in young people, they are investing in power, using massive checks to manufacture consent and tilt the political playing field,” said Wisconsin Young Democrats Chair Jake Williams in a statement.

In response to a post on X criticizing the Uihlein’s donations, the College Republicans of Wisconsin’s account replied with an animation of Tom, from the cartoon Tom and Jerry, yawning.

Urban Milwaukee asked the campaign of Tom Tiffany for comment and has not heard back.