Hijacking Campaign 2022 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Offices | Campaign 2022
Posted: April 12, 2022
Updated: March 22, 2024
Estimated Spending: $100,000
This rightwing group led by two longtime Republican activists describes itself as information hub that wants to educate and mobilize other like-minded groups and volunteers to push a conservative state and federal policy agenda. As a phony issue ad group, the organization is not required to report its fundraising and spending.
Empower Wisconsin’s president is Eric O’Keefe , former head of the conservative Club for Growth. O’Keefe was also one of the targets of a John Doe probe into alleged coordination between the Club for Growth and other third party electioneering groups with the campaign of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. O’Keefe has also worked with the Koch brothers on conservative events, issues, and strategy.
The group’s secretary and treasurer is Valerie Johnson. She held a similar position in the past with another rightwing group, Citizens for a Strong America, and is the wife of R.J. Johnson, a longtime GOP activist and former Club for Growth leader.
Empower Wisconsin was founded in 2019 and is located in Madison.
In January, the group sponsored a phony issue ad that told Democratic Gov. Tony Evers “to stand up for victims” by firing Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm. Chisholm’s office had been criticized for the release of a Milwaukee man on low bail who later drove through a Christmas parade in Waukesha last November, killing six and injuring dozens.