Hijacking Campaign 2020 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Offices | Campaign 2020
Posted: March 10, 2020
Updated: June 23, 2021
Fall: Oath • Spending
Spring: Oath • Spending
This is an unregistered committee controlled by the Washington D.C.-based Service Employees International Union - SEIU. The committee, which does not have to report the source or amount of its fundraising to the state, intends to make independent expenditures in Wisconsin elections on behalf of Democratic candidates.
This committee reported independent expenditures in both the 2020 fall legislative elections and the spring Wisconsin State Supreme Court elections.
Another committee associated with the SEIU - this one run by the state chapter - was involved in the same elections in 2020.
Fall Election
Four days before the August 11 primary elections, the committee first reported spending over $12,000 on texting and digital ads to support candidates in five Democratic primaries for the State Senate and Assembly - the 6th Senate and the 8th and 17th Assembly Districts in the Milwaukee-area and the 26th Senate and 48th Assembly districts in Madison. With the exception of the 6th Senate District, where incumbent La Tonya Johnson faced a primary challenge, all the other seats were open. All the candidates SEIU backed in the Democratic primaries but one went on to win in the general. The lone exception was the 8th Assembly District where the union-backed candidate lost the Democratic primary to the eventual winner Sylvia Ortiz-Velez.
In mid-September the committee first reported spending towards the general election when it spent over $88,000 on direct mail opposing Republican candidates in 18 Assembly districts, all but two - Clint Moses in the 29th and Rachael Cabral-Guevara in the 55th - were incumbents.
By the end of the election SEIU spent over $50,000 each in four Assembly races:
- Nearly $64,000 on the 82nd in suburban Milwaukee where it backed newcomer Democrat Jacob Malinowski against four-term Republican incumbent Ken Skowronski.
- Over $61,000 in the 21st, also in suburban Milwaukee, where it supported Democrat Erik Brooks over four-term Republican incumbent Jessie Rodriguez.
- Over $55,000 in the 4th in Green Bay area to support Democrat Kathy Hinkfuss against three-term Republican incumbent David Steffen.
- Over $53,000 in northwestern Wisconsin's 30th where it backed Democrat Sarah Yacoub's attempt to unseat two-term Republican incumbent Shannon Zimmerman. Zimmerman had run for the 10th Senate seat in a special election held in January 2018 but lost in the primary.
The Republican incumbents won in all those races.
In total, the union spent over $800,000 on mailers, digital ads, texting and phone calls in 28 districts, two State Senate - the 6th and 26th - and 26 Assembly - the 4th, 8th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 42nd, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, 55th, 62nd, 63rd, 68th, 82nd, 85th, 88th, 92nd and 96th. Only six of the candidates SEIU supported won on November 3.
Spring Election
Four weeks before the April 7 Wisconsin State Supreme court election it first reported spending $4,200 on text messages to support Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jill Karofsky against incumbent Justice Daniel Kelly. Kelly was appointed to the position in 2016 by Republican Gov. Scott Walker after the retirement of Justice David Prosser. This was the first time Kelly stood before the voters. He lost the election to Karofsky.
In the end, SEIU reported spending more than $84,000 for texting, campaign staff and digital advertising in the election.
Last active election: 2019
This organization is an unregistered independent expenditure committee that is required to report any such spending done within 60 days of a primary or an election to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission per Chapter 11, Subchapter X of Wisconsin Statutes.