Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023
Posted: February 11, 2023
Updated: March 25, 2024
Based in Arlington, VA, American Principles Project PAC is sponsored by the American Principles Project, a think tank that advocates for socially conservative issues. It registered with the state in February 2023 to make independent expenditures in the 2023 spring Wisconsin State Supreme court election, but it first involved itself in Wisconsin state-level politics with the 2022 fall election when it operated as an unregistered committee.*
Four candidates – two conservatives and two liberals – faced off in a Feb. 21 nonpartisan primary for a 10-year seat on the high court to replace retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. Former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protaseiwicz were the two primary winners and faced each other in the April 4 election. Kelly, a conservative appointee of former GOP Governor Scott Walker, lost his seat on the bench in the 2020 election. Protasiewicz was supported by liberal groups.
The winner of the election would determine the ideological balance of the court, which was controlled 4-3 by conservatives at the time of the election. Protasiewicz won the election.
Eleven days before the primary, the PAC first reported spending nearly $67,000 on digital advertising and peer-to-peer messaging in support of Kelly.
Ten days after the primary, the group reported spending over $245,000 on digital advertising to support Kelly. The digital ad claimed Protasiewicz had the support of groups that want to take away parental rights and that Kelly would defend parental rights and "put an end to trans (transgender) indoctrination in our schools."
In mid-March, the committee reported spending over another $483,000 for online advertising supporting Kelly.
*Registered committees are required to report all financial activities and sources of income to the state. Unregistered committees are only required to report election expenditures made within sixty days of a primary or an election.
Last active election: 2022
This organization is registered with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission as an independent expenditure committee following the January 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.