Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: March 25, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Special: Oath • Spending

This is a Brookfield-based group that supports Republican candidates in Wisconsin legislative and statewide elections. Between the time it first surfaced in 2010 and 2022, the organization spent over an estimated $3.5 million on issue ads and independent expenditures in Wisconsin state elections, placing it among the top special interest group spenders. Former GOP Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, who was disgraced in the caucus scandal, helped create the group.

A 2023 special election was held on April 4 to fill a vacancy in suburban Milwaukee's 8th State Senate District following the December 2022 retirement of long-time Republican incumbent Alberta Darling. After surviving a three-way Feb. 21 primary, Republican Rep. Dan Knodl of Germantown defeated Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin in the April election.

Less than two weeks before the election, Jobs First reported spending $99,000 for online advertisements opposing the Democrat and $75,000 more for television ads about a week later.

Last active election: 2022

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: March 28, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

This is a Janesville-based committee that first became active in local elections in the spring of 2022.

The committee is affiliated with Rock County First, Inc., which claims it recruits, trains, endorses, and provides support for candidates for local office and educates citizens about their local government.

The group endorsed former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the April 4 election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In addition, Rock County First Political Fund reported spending over $2,700 on texts, radio, and digital ads to support Kelly about a week before the election and later reported pending another $7,000 for print, TV and online advertising in his support.

Kelly, a conservative who was appointed to the court in 2016 to fill a vacancy but was voted off the court in 2020, was running against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal.

Protasiewicz won the election and took her seat on the court the following August shifting control of the court from conservatives to liberals.

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: March 28, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

This is an independent expenditure committee affiliated with the state branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) , which represents health and home care, nursing home, and public service workers.

Over the years, SEIU has used numerous state and national political action committees (PACs) and other committees to make independent expenditures to support Democrats and oppose Republicans in Wisconsin state elections.

SEIU’s various PACs and committees spent more than a combined $3.3 million on Wisconsin state elections between 2010 and the end of 2022, making SEIU one of the top-spending electioneering groups in Wisconsin.

In late March, the committee reported it had spent a little over $400 on campaign literature to support liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The day after the election, it reported spending about another $1,600 to support Protasiewicz.

Protasiewicz defeated former conservative Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the April 4 election shifting control of the court from a 4-3 conservative majority to a 4-3 liberal one.

Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Education, an affiliated committee, reported spending more substantial sums in the election, as did another related committee.

Last active election: 2022

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: April 1, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

The Chicago based New Prosperity Foundation was first active in Wisconsin elections in 2010 and did not appear again until it opposed the reelection of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the 2022 election. In that election it made independent expenditures using both registered and unregistered committees.

Four days before the April 4 spring election, the committee reported spending $47,000 for online advertising to support former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly's bid to return to the high court. Originally appointed to the court by former GOP Gov. Scott Walker, Kelly lost his first election as a justice in 2020.

Kelly lost the open election to Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz. The following August, Protasiewicz assumed her seat ending the court's 4-3 majority.

Last active election: 2022

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: January 27, 2023
Updated: March 25, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

This is a new unregistered express advocacy committee based in Minocqua that filed paperwork to sponsor electioneering activities to support Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz.

The group has the same name as a short-lived independent expenditure committee created in 2021 by Minocqua Brewing owner and erstwhile Wisconsin State Assembly Democratic candidate Kirk Bangstad to pay for outside electioneering activities opposing Republican candidates for federal office in Wisconsin.

Protasiewicz faced Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow, and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the Feb. 21 primary for an open seat on the high court to replace retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. The first two candidates were backed by liberals in the primary and the last two by conservatives. As conservatives had a 4-3 majority on the hight court at the time of the election, the election's winner would determine the court's future ideological direction.

Protasiewicz defeated Kelly in the general election.

Before the primary, the group had reported spending nearly $13,300 on billbards to support Protasiewicz.

After the primary, it reported spending about an additional $9,200 for the same.

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: February 2, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Special: Oath • Spending

This Washington, D.C., super PAC made its first entry in Wisconsin politics to oppose GOP candidate Janel Brandtjen in a 2023 special election for the 8th Senate District seat left vacant with the retirement of GOP Sen. Alberta Darling, of River Hills, on Dec. 1, 2022.

The group’s now inactive website said it supported “principled Republican candidates in GOP primaries.” Media accounts about the group report it was created in early 2021 to support Republican candidates, like former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois, and the other U.S. House and U.S. Senate Republicans who voted to impeach or convict former President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Brandtjen, an Assembly Republican from Menomonee Falls since 2014, is a supporter of Trump and his false claims that the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost, was stolen.

Brandtjen faced fellow Republicans Van Mobley and Rep. Dan Knodl in the Feb. 21 primary. Knodl won the primary and the election in April.

Americans Keeping Country First filed paperwork in early February saying it spent $55,170 on digital advertising to oppose Brandtjen. The ad (no longer available online) called Brandtjen an embarrassment who divides rather than leads and unites people.

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: February 10, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

This Arlington, VA based, anti-abortion political action committee (PAC) describes itself as a "partner" of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an organization last directly involved in Wisconsin politics with the 2019 state supreme court election. The PAC's treasurer, Jennifer Gross, is also the treasurer for Election Integrity PAC, which was involved in several Republican primaries in 2022. Women Speak Out first reported making independent expenditures in Wisconsin state-level elections with the 2022 gubernatorial race.

Women Speak Out reported spending almost $143,000 for phone calls and mailers to support former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the Feb. 21 nonpartisan primary where he vied with three other candidates, two liberals and another conservative, for the right to run in the April 4, 2023 election for the ten-year seat vacated by retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. As Roggensack was a member of the court's 4-3 conservative majority, her retirement put the ideological direction of the court up for grabs.

Kelly, a 2016 appointee to the court by former GOP Governor Scott Walker who was voted off the court in 2020, and Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who was perceived as, and ran as, a liberal, made it through the primary.

Protasiewicz won the election and joined the court the following August giving the high court a 4-3 liberal majority.

After the primary, the group spent over another $2 million in the election for canvassing, campaign literature, texting, phone calls and television and online advertising costs.

A 30-second television ad the group sponsored in late March accused Protasiewicz of imposing a light sentence on a child rapist.

A day before the election, the PAC ran broadcast, digital, and cable versions of an ad that accused Protasiewicz of being on the side of "predatory abortion profiteers."

Last active election: 2022

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: February 10, 2023
Updated: March 26, 2024

Special: Oath • Spending

This committee, based in Ottawa, Ill., filed paperwork to make independent expenditures in a spring 2023 special election to fill the vacant 8th Senate District seat in suburban Milwaukee.

According the its website, the group wants to make voting easy and accessible, end partisan gerrymandering, and defeat “the Toxic Tribalism tearing our families, friendships, and country apart.”

In early February, the group reported spending about $9,300 on mailings to oppose GOP Rep. Janel Brandtjen in the three-way Feb. 21 special election Republican primary. Brandtjen, an Assembly Republican from Menomonee Falls since 2014, is a supporter of Trump and his false claims that the 2020 presidential election, which he lost, was stolen.

Brandtjen lost the primary to Rep. Dan Knodl, of Germantown, who went on to defeat Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin in the April 4 general election.

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: February 13, 2023
Updated: March 25, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

This committee is sponsored by the Milwaukee based Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC), an organization that works to advance the interests of the Black community in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It first reported making independent expenditures in Wisconsin state politics with the fall 2022 election when it spent over $141,000.

Nine days before the Feb. 21 spring primary, it reported spending over $54,000 to back Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

Mitchell was one of four candidates - and one of the two perceived liberal candidates - seeking the seat vacated by retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. At the time, the high court currently had a 4-3 conservative advantage. Mitchell was eliminated in the primary. The final two candidates were former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, originally appointed to the high court by GOP Gov. Scott Walker in 2016, and Milwaukee Circuit Supreme Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz who won the election. With Protasiewicz's election the court switched from a 4-3 conservative majority to a 4-3 liberal one.

Last active election: 2022

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.

Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023

Posted: February 15, 2023
Updated: March 25, 2024

Spring: Oath • Spending

Based in Madison, Wis., Freedom Action Now describes itself as "a Black and Southeast Asian Wisconsin based political organization" that works "to advance the feminist abolitionist agenda." This is the first time the group made independent expenditures in Wisconsin state-level politics. Paperwork filed with the Wisconsin State Ethics Commission shows independent spending at the local level in the 2021 spring elections.

A week before the Feb. 21 primary for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, Freedom Action Now reported spending nearly $3,600, mostly on phone calls, to support Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell.

Mitchell was one of four candidates - and one of the two perceived liberal candidates - who sought the seat vacated by retiring Justice Patience Roggensack, a member of the court's then 4-3 conservative majority.

Freedom Action reported spending about $10,800 on phone banks and Facebook ads in the nonpartisan primary to support Mitchell. Mitchell did not make it past the primary.

The final two contestants in the April 4 election were Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, supported by liberal groups, and former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, originally appointed to the high court by former GOP Gov. Scott Walker and supported by conservatives.

Six days before the April election, Freedom Action reported that it was throwing its support to Protasiewicz at a cost of about $2,500.

Protasiewicz won the election.

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.