Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025
Posted: March 5, 2025
Updated: July 16, 2025
Based in New York City, ACLU Voter Education Fund is a political action committee (PAC) set up by the American Civil Liberties Union that first registered with the Federal Elections Commission in March 2024 with the expressed goal of informing the public about civil liberty issues in the 2024 federal election. The PAC registered with the state of Wisconsin at the end of February 2025 as an independent disbursement committee although the PAC’s website, and reports filed with the state, claim it does not endorse or oppose candidates.
Towards the beginning of March, the committee reported spending over a million dollars, mostly for radio, online advertising, and videos, to support Wisconsin State Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford. Crawford, a Dane County Circuit Court judge, faced Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel in the April 1st election for an open seat on the state’s highest court. At the time of the election, liberals held a 4-3 majority on the officially nonpartisan court, a majority gained in the 2023 court election. The election of Schimel, who previously served as state attorney general and Waukesha district attorney as a Republican, would have shifted control of the court to conservatives. Crawford won the election and liberals kept their majority.
Each expenditure on the committee’s reports is accompanied by the same disclaimer: “The filer does not endorse or oppose candidates. The expenditures being reported in this filing were in opposition or in support of one or more of the positions of the candidates identified on critical civil liberties issues.”
In July, the ACLU reported spending about an additional $400 for media consulting in the race.
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.