Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023
Posted: February 18, 2023
Updated: March 25, 2024
Indivisible Action is an arm of the liberal Indivisible Project. Based in Washington, D.C., its self-avowed mission is to "defeat MAGA" and "save democracy." This is the first time the group has reported independent expenditures in a Wisconsin state election since the 2020 Wisconsin State Supreme Court election.
Four candidates – two conservatives and two liberals – faced off in a Feb. 21 primary for a 10-year seat on the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin Supreme Court. The top two finishers, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, one of the conservatives, and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, one of the liberals, met in the April 4 general election to replace retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack.
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.
Four days before the primary, the group reported its first spending with nearly $5,000 for phone calls backing Protasiewicz.
About a month before the April election, Indivisible Action reported spending about $18,400 for mailers to support Protasiewicz.
In late March, the group sponsored text messages touting Protasiewicz like this one: "Early voting is open! Let's send a common sense voice to the Court to protect our freedoms, be fair & impartial, and stop MAGA. Will you be a voter for her by Tue, Apr 4?"
Finally, a week before the election, Indivisible Action reported spending nearly $28,000 devoted to radio ads and phone calls in support of Protasiewicz.
Last active election: 2020
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.