Hijacking Campaign 2026 | Campaign 2026
Posted: March 17, 2026
Updated: April 8, 2026
A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund is the independent expenditure arm of A Better Wisconsin Together, an organization that supports Democratic and left-leaning candidates for the legislature, statewide and local offices. Between the 2020 Wisconsin State Supreme Court election, when it was first active, and the high court election in 2025, the group's disclosed spending in Wisconsin state-level election was just under $28.9 million. That does not count undisclosed spending on issue ads which the group often employs. Indeed, it had started running online issue ads in this year's high court race a full month and a half before it first reported independent spending. Groups are not legally required to disclose how much is spent on issue ads.
In mid-March, about three weeks before the April 7th election, A Better Wisconsin first reported independent spending – as opposed to its earlier issue ad campaign - in the 2026 high court race with over $238,000 going towards online advertising to support Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor for an open seat on the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin State Supreme Court. The Dane County-based judge and former Democratic state legislator faces fellow appeals court judge Maria Lazar of Waukesha. Taylor had already garnered independent spending support from several liberal groups by this time and Lazar from at least one of their conservative counterparts. Lazar had first won her current position with just such support. A Taylor would victory would see liberals expand their control of the seven-member court from four to five seats.
Two days after A Better Wisconsin first reported independent expenditures, an ad paid for by the committee and appearing on YouTube came to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's attention. The ad attacks Lazar for supporting the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned abortion rights and urges viewers to vote "No" on Lazar in the upcoming election.
Two more ads credited to the committee can also be found on YouTube. One ad urges voters to reject Lazar for siding with polluting corporations over Wisconsin Citizens. This ad is similar to an issue ad run earlier by the committee's parent organization. The second ad portrays Taylor as a defender of Wisconsin families and freedoms from President Donald Trump. A third ad running on YouTube - no link available - claims Taylor will defend the constitution from Trump's attacks and oppose judicial corruption. All the ads conclude by encouraging viewers to vote for Taylor.
Thirteen days before the election the committee reported spending over another $109,000 for radio and online ads in the court campaign. Some of the ads were credited as part of a joint campaign with an unnamed entity. By the last Friday in March, two days later, an ad started running on You Tube that contrasted Lazar's support for the U.S. Supreme court decision ending abortion rights with Taylor's support for such rights. The ad was credited A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund and Priorities USA Action. The latter is an independent expenditure committee connected to Priorities USA, an organization whose stated mission is to elect progressives to office from the local to federal levels. It supported the Biden and Harris campaigns in 2024, for examples.
Shortly after the first ad with Priorities Action USA premiered, a second, shorter version appeared that attacks Lazar's for her opposition to abortion and concludes by telling the viewer to reject Lazar. The ad makes no mention of Taylor. This was also co-sponsored by Priorities Action USA.
Within a week of the April election, another ad by A Better Wisonsin Poltical Fund was running on YouTube. This one cites Taylor's history of protecting people's rights and claims she will continue to fight for them on the court. The ad ends by urging a vote for Taylor.
Four days before the election another ad co-sponsored with Priorities USA Action appeared on YouTube. In the ad, a bearded young man in a hat speaks to what appears to be a computer camera saying he intends to vote for Chris Taylor. He says she supports workers' rights, reproductive rights and health care. Another commerical sponsored by the two groups features the same man once again addressing the camera. This time he goes into more depth about Taylor's past as a state legislator and former Planned Parenthood official once again stressing issues such as abortion and worker's rights.
The day of the election another ad co-sponsored with Priorities USA Action appeared on YouTube. The ad was presented as a phone video with a woman urging the viewer to vote for Taylor. Protecting abortion rights was the most prominent talking point.
Last active election: 2025
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.