Record Spending and Competitive Races Fuel Political Tension in Wisconsin Ahead of 2024 Elections

The highly competitive legislative and statewide races in Wisconsin have attracted both local and national officials due to newly drawn maps. In the 2022 midterm elections, outside groups spent an unprecedented $93 million on governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and treasurer contests – a significant increase from the previous record set in Wisconsin’s 2018 midterms ($61.86m). Matt Rothschild, Executive Director at Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC), told Wisconsin Public Radio: “Right now, we’re out here in the wild, wild West.” The Badger State is politically split between registered Democrats and Republicans; consequently, races are usually tight affairs there. Despite close elections being a feature of the state’s politics, for 28 years since 1990 (and more recently), Republicans have held at least 60 seats in each term of its assembly thanks to what was once deemed some of America’s most gerrymandered maps. However, Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down these legislative maps this year, creating an equal playing field for Democrats that they had not experienced since the early ’90s. As a result, there is now a 26% chance that Democrats could win control of the assembly in November’s election, which was impossible under former legislatively gerrymandered structures – even if Republicans were to maintain their current lead by votes statewide or nationally. The Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming told Washington Examiner: “When you get a new set of maps, a lot of things can happen.” Outside Democratic spenders are looking at the Badger State’s legislative races as part of efforts to create grassroots momentum for federal and statewide positions – beginning with those contested by both parties in its assembly. The Wisconsin Democrats have received $48k from each chamber, which is a portion of an overall budget ($60m) provided this year by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC). Similarly, ‘The States Project’ plans to invest around one million dollars into campaigns that would favour Democratic candidates in the Badger State. Wisconsin Democrats outraised their Republican counterparts during 2023 by more than four times but reports from Republicans say they still collect higher funding totals ‘within [Wisconsin’s] boundaries,’ since merely over three percent of funds raised by the state’s Democratic Party came from within its borders. In contrast, Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said that “almost all” of their money comes from outside the Badger State for Democrats because they allegedly have an apparent shortage of donor appeal in-state. However, when it comes to candidates running for U.S Senate seats representing Wisconsin – Republican Sen. Ron Johnson has raised almost 70% ($35m) more than his Democratic rival since January 2019 from outside the state’s boundaries; while Democrat Tammy Baldwin received around $46 million in funding, with fifty-nine percent (~£$8k – excluding interest and fees paid by candidates to political action committees for campaign financing) of this coming from non-Wisconsin sources. In January 2023 alone, tech billionaire Reid Hoffman – LinkedIn’s founder – donated $2 million to Wisconsin Democrats; which was around the same amount that Republicans had raised during those six months in total earlier that year; Wisconsin Democrats later garnered further assistance when Pritzker (D-IL) contributed a sum of one and eleven hundred thousand dollars ($1.1m). Hoffman’s contribution drew criticism from some Wisconsin Republicans, who have been critical about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein – the convicted sex offender who died in prison under mysterious circumstances back in 2019. Nonetheless, outside groups spent a record-breaking $93 million on races for governor, lieutenant governors and various secretarial posts last year. It’s fair to say that spending this year might beat previous high points. In short, Wisconsin’s upcoming election cycle is expected to be highly competitive across the board – with both parties investing heavily in their campaigns as they seek legislative or executive power in November.