Bice: Wisconsin Democrats are burying Republicans in 2024 fundraising

For Wisconsin Republicans who believed holding the national convention in Wisconsin later this year would mean an immediate financial windfall for the state party, they will be sadly mistaken, at least for now.

State records show that the state Republican Party brought in $863,553 in its state and federal accounts during the first three months of the year. Of that, $287,650 came in two donations in the past two weeks — $237,650 from Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks and $50,000 from retired Racine businessman Fred Young.

By contrast, the state Democratic Party raised nearly $9.6 million in both federal and state accounts in the first quarter of the year, a ratio of more than $11 to $1 compared to Democrats.

Among the biggest givers to the state Democrats this year are Silicon Valley investor Reid Hoffman, who contributed $2 million; billionaire financier George Soros, $1 million; and Kenneth Duda, co-founder of cloud networking solutions provider Arista, $1 million.

Hoffman, who gave another $3.6 million to Democrats last year, has come under some criticism for his past ties to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Under Chairman Ben Wikler, Democrats have raised substatially more money than their opponents since GOP lawmakers lifted the limits on state parties The previous individual contribution limit was $10,000 a year.

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So how are Republicans spinning the numbers this time?

First, they are emphasizing that they are spending less per vote in Wisconsin than are Democrats — something you'd expect from the number of close elections in Wisconsin and the left's fundraising edge.

Republicans are also pointing the fact that only 5% of the money that Democrats have raised in their state and federal accounts has come from individuals living in Wisconsin. The rest has come from out-of-state donors and party transfers.

"I've actually outraised them in-state (this year)" said Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming. "In 2018, 60% of their money was in-state, and by 2020, it was down to 15%."

And now it's down from there.

But Joe Oslund, spokesman for the Wisconsin Democrats, dismissed the criticism. He said Republicans would jump at the chance to have the same network of donors that the Democrats have in place.

"Republicans are putting a lot of spin on the ball for Opening Day," Oslund said, referring to the Milwaukee Brewers baseball home opener Tuesday. "The truth is 60% of the Wisconsin GOP’s support from Wisconsinites came from just two ultra-wealthy donors, including billionaire Diane Hendricks."

Oslund said it appears that big-time conservative donors — such as Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, founders of Uline packaging giant in Mt. Pleasant — prefer to give to outside interest groups instead of giving to the state Republican Party. He noted the big bucks given by the Uihleins and others to such groups during the most recent Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign and the state Supreme Court race.

For instance, Elizabeth Uihlein did give the Republican Party $500,000 early last year in the midst of the Supreme Court race between conservative Dan Kelly and liberal Janet Protasiewicz, who easily won the contest. But Richard Uihlein poured $5.55 million in Fair Courts America in 2023 to help Kelly's campaign.

"We raise the resources we need to be competitive and win elections in accordance with the campaign finance laws Scott Walker gave us," Oslund said. "Despite his promises to revive the GOP's anemic fundraising, Brian Schimming has consistently failed to bring home the bacon."

Schimming did talk up his ability to close the gap in fundraising between the two parties. For the first time, the GOP chair is drawing a salary as Republicans seek to bolster their operation heading into this year's presidential contest.

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In an interview, Schimming acknowledged the difficulty of the job. Before taking it, he said Reince Priebus — a former state Republican Party chairman, national RNC chairman and White House chief of staff — told him that Democrats love to give to causes while Republicans prefer donating to candidates.

"Boy, has that borne itself out," he said.

"I don't think any party in the country is raising as much money as the Dems right now," Schimming added.

But he said it's not like the Republican Party has been sitting on the sidelines. He said the party is currently deploying field staff ahead of the fall election. In addition, he estimated the GOP will have given more than $500,000 in cash to local government races around the state this spring, including school board contests.

Looking ahead, Schimming said several factors should help the Republicans' fundraising numbers this year.

First, Wisconsin remains one of a handful of battleground states that will help decide who wins the presidency. Also, the race between Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde looks like it will be competitive.

Then, of course, the Republicans will hold their national convention in Milwaukee from July 15-18.

"I've got a team together, and we're certainly going to work on fundraising for the convention," Schimming said. "I'll be running my own visitor's bureau, and I'm not going to do it for free all the time."

In short, Wisconsin Republicans will have no excuses if they come up short in the fundraising game once again.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Democrats have buried Republicans in 2024 fundraising