Hijacking Campaign 2022 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Offices | Campaign 2022
Posted: October 17, 2022
Updated: March 22, 2024
This is an unregistered committee sponsored by the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) to make independent expenditures in Wisconsin’s election for attorney general. DAGA is a 527 group, which may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from any source to spend on elections. DAGA has been active in Wisconsin attorney general elections in the past, in 2006, when it spent over $100,000 through a state PAC and in 2018 when it spent nearly $2.2 million via a registered independent expenditure committee.
In mid-October, the group reported spending over $250,000 on television ads opposing GOP candidate for attorney general, Fond du Lac District Attorney Eric Toney. Toney sought to deny Democratic incumbent Attorney General Josh Kaul a second term. A day after it filed the initial report, DAGA reported spending $150,000 for online advertising against Toney. The ads - here and here - show people in scrubs wearing handcuffs and having their mugshots taken. The ads say Toney supports prosecuting doctors and nurses who perform abortions and making the procedure a felony with no exceptions for rape or incest.
In the following weeks leading up to the election, the committee spent nearly another $1.5 million for television and online ads opposing Toney.
Last Active Election: 2018
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.