Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025
Posted: February 17, 2025
Updated: April 4, 2025
CFC PAC is a newly formed independent expenditure committee* run by the Milwaukee-based City Forward Collective (CFC), the self-professed mission of which is to ensure that all Milwaukee students have access to high-quality schools, a mission which includes support for charter schools. This is the first time the organization has reported independent expenditures in Wisconsin state-level elections, but it reported contributing over $123,000 to Wisconsin politicians and parties at the state level through a conduit between 2023, when it first reported making contributions, and 2024. $91,750, or about 75% of that total, went toward Republican candidates, parties and legislative campaign committees.
Four days before the February 18th primary, the group reported spending over $6,000 for phone calls to support Brittany Kinser for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction, one of three candidates on the primary ballot. Kinser, an eductional consultant and former lobbyist for the CFC, was challenging first-term incumbent Jill Underly for the officially nonpartisan office. Underly was backed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin as Kinser was by the state GOP. The third, losing, candidate in the primary, Jeff Wright, also identified as a Democrat. Kinser and Underly went on to face each other in the April 1st election. Underly prevailed in the contest.
A day before the primary, the committee reported that it had spent nearly another $1,400 for phone calls supporting Kinser. Two days after the primary, it reported spending another $4,000 for phone calls.
At the beginning of March CFC PAC reported spending $25,000 for online ads supporting Kinser.
At the end of the second week in March, with less than three weeks remaining until election day, CFC reported spending about another $4,000 for phone calls in support of Kinser.
Twelve days from the election, CFC PAC reported spending over $23,700 for newspaper ads and phone calls to back Kinser and oppose Underly.
Nine days before the election, it reported spending nearly $3,000 for phone calls backing Kinser. The next day, it reported nearly an additional $1,000 for the same.
Five days before the election, CFC PAC reported another $9,000 for phone calls in support of Kinser. A day later, it reported spending about another $4,400 for the same.
The day before the election, the committee reported about another $6,300 for phone calls supporting Kinser. Two days after the election, CFC reported about another $11,400 spent in the race.
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*The committee orginally operated as an unregistered committe but after filing its first two independent expenditure reports, formally registered with the Wisconsin State Ethics Board and reassigned all its previously reported spending to the "new" committee. This means that the committee will have to report all financial actitivty, including its sources of income, to the state of Wisconsin the next time campaign finance reports are due.
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.