Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025
Posted: February 22, 2025
Updated: March 24, 2025
Building America’s Future operates on the state of Wisconsin as an unregistered independent expenditure committee. Its reported address matches the Washington office of law firm Dickson Wright. The organization is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(4) group, meaning it does not need to report the identity of its contributors, but Tesla founder and presidential senor advisor Elon Musk has been reported as a major donor. During the presidential election the group donated over $33 million to conservative political action committees that supported Donald Trump. It was the principal funder of one such group, Duty to America.
At the end of the third week in February, the group reported spending over $2 million on mailers, online and television advertising to oppose the election of Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Crawford faces Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, who formerly served as the state’s Republican attorney general, for the open seat. Although the court is officially nonpartisan, liberals currently enjoy a 4-3 majority and the election of Schimel would swing control of the court to conservatives.
At the end of the last week in March, the committee reported spending over $1.94 million on television ads and mailers in opposition to Crawford. The mailers attack Crawford for imposing light sentences on child molestors.
Towards the end of the second week in March, and less than three weeks before the April election, it reported spending over half a million dollars for mailers and online advertising against Crawford.
Two weeks before the election, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign a second of the PAC's mailers. The mailer attacks Crawford for giving too light a sentence to a man who sexually assaulted a child and urges the rejection of Crawford for the court.
Twelve days from the April election, the group reported spending about another $238,000 for mailers opposing Crawford. The latest mailer continues the same line of attack as the previous ones and bears a strong resemblance to the lastest issue ad video produced by WMC Issues Mobilization Council.
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.