Hijacking Campaign 2026 | Campaign 2026
Posted: March 30, 2026
Updated: April 20, 2026
Based in Washington, D.C., Priorities USA Action is a federally registered independent expenditure committee operating as an unregistered express advocacy group in Wisconsin. It is connected to Priorities USA, an organization whose stated mission is to elect progressives to office at all levels of government nationwide. It supported the Biden and Harris campaigns for president in 2024, for examples.
The last Saturday in March, less than two weeks before the April 7th election, the committee first reported spending in the 2026 Wisconsin State Supreme Court race with over $54,200* going towards online advertising to oppose Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar and support her Court of Appeals colleague Chris Taylor. The day before, an ad appeared on YouTube credited jointly to Priorities USA Action and A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund. The ad contrasted Lazar's opposition to abortion rights with Taylor's support for the same. The ad concluded by urging a vote for Taylor.
Shortly after the first ad premiered, a 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 A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund.
Four days before the election another ad co-sponsored with A Better Wisconsin Together Politcial Fund 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.
Lazar and Taylor are contending for an open seat on the state’s highest court. A victory by Lazar, who is backed now, as in the past, by conservative groups, would maintain the officially nonpartisan court’s current ideological balance. The election of Taylor, a former Democratic state legislator backed by liberal groups, would see the liberal majority on the seven-member court expand from four to five seats.
*Revised from original posting to account for later amendment filed by the committee.
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.