Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

March 20, 2025

Oath • Spending

This is a political action committee (PAC) used by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation to make independent expenditures and direct contributions to support legislative and statewide candidates, usually Republican. The federation is one of the state’s largest and most influential agricultural lobbying and advocacy groups. Between 2010 and 2024, the group reported over $1.1 million on independent expenditures in partisan and nonpartisan state elections.

Thirteen days out from the April1st spring election, the committee reported spending over $35,200 to produce and mail campaign literature supporting Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Schimel faces Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford for an open court seat. While the court is officially nonpartisan, Schimel, who previously served as state attorney general as a Republican, is backed by the state GOP and Crawford by the state Democratic party. Furthermore, Schimel has been portrayed as an ally to President Donald Trump by both his supporters and detractors. Liberals hold a 4-3 majority on the court won in the 2023 election; a Schimel victory would shift control back to conservatives.

Last active election: 2024

Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

March 22, 2025

Oath • Spending

WEAC Region 6 PAC is the political action committee (PAC) for the Madison regional branch of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the state's largest teachers’ union. WEAC and its various regional political action committees usually support Democratic candidates for legislative and statewide offices through outside electioneering activities and direct PAC contributions. . Several other WEAC affiliates have also reported independent spending in the spring elections. The are WEAC Region 7 PAC, MTEA PAC Fund, and Racine Education Assn PAC.

Eleven days before the April 1 st elections, WEAC Region 6 PAC reported spending about $178 towards miscellaneous printing costs split evenly between the Wisconsin State Supreme Court and State Superintendent of Public Instruction races. In the former it supports Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford for an open seat on the court. Crawford’s opponent is Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel. Although the court is officially nonpartisan, Crawford is supported by the state Democratic party, labor and liberal leaning groups and Schimel, who previously held partisan office as a Republican, by the state GOP and a variety of conservative groups, including at least two, America PAC and Building America’s Future with financial ties to Tesla founder Elon Musk, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump. Liberals have held a 4-3 majority on the court since 2023, but the election of Schimel would return control to conservatives.

In the other race, the PAC supports the incumbent, Jill Underly, who was first elected in 2021. Like the supreme court, the state superintendent of public instruction office is officially nonpartisan, but Underly is supported by the state Democratic party and her opponent, educational advisor and former charter school lobbyist Brittany Kinser, by Republicans.

Last active election: 2023

Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

Posted: March 25, 2025
Updated: July 16, 2026

Oath • Spending

This is the De Pere based Brown County branch of the state Republican party. This is the first time it has reported making independent expenditures in a state election, but these may be misreported in-kind contributions as may be the case with two other GOP county branches in Langlade and Milwaukee.

Eight days before the April 1st elections, the party reported spending about $4,300 on mailers, phone calls and online advertising, starting in mid-February, split between the Wisconsin State Supreme Court and State Superintendent of Public races. Both posts are officially nonpartisan. In July, the party reported it had spent nearly another $8,600 in the two races for online advertising and phone calls.

In the court race, it suppoted Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Republican Wisconsin State Attorney General Brad Schimel. Schimel faced Democratically backed Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford for an open seat on the high court. Going into the election liberals enjoyed a 4-3 majority on the court won in 2023. A Schimel victory would have given control back to conservatives. Crawford won the electin ensuring liberal control of the court.

In the other race, the party backed challenger Brittany Kinser, an educational consultant and former charter school lobbyist, against first-term incumbent Jill Underly. Underly, in turn, was supported by the state Democratic party. Underly won the election.

Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

March 31, 2025

The day before the April election, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign obtained a copy of a mailer attributed to Working Families Power that looks as though it was intended for distribution before the start of early voting on March 18th. On one side, the mailer compares the two candidates in the 2025 Wisconsin State Supreme Court election on four issues, abortion rights, corporate accountability, and workers’ and voters’ rights with Crawford getting the nod in each case. The second side includes a note personally addressed to the recipient, from Village of Oregon trustee and political activist Carlene Bechen, along with a picture of Bechen. In the note she encourages the voter to “protect our rights and freedoms.” The mailer never explicitly urges a vote for or against a candidate possibly qualifying it as an issue ad.

The mailer also provides two website addresses, “wfpus.org/votewi” and “wfpus.org/scowis-guide.” The former takes the user to MyVote Wisconsin’s polling place page and the latter to Guides.Vote’s page for the Wisconsin high court election. Typing “wfpus.org“ into a web browser’s address bar takes the user to the Working Families Party website. That organization has reported independent expenditures in this election.

The Working Families Party has two committees registered with the state, a political action committee (PAC) and an independent expenditure committee, neither with self-disclosed activity in this election. Both these committees have the same Milwaukee address that appears on the mailer. The Working Families Party's federal committee, in turn, shares an address with Working Families Power, a liberal-leaning organization based in Brooklyn, New York, that is not registered for campaign finance activity with Wisconsin or the federal government.

The day before the election Working Families Power also sent out texts with the same picture of Bechen used in the mailer that talk up Crawford along the same lines as the mailer. The text does not say who to vote for, however, and includes a link to Vote-Act.org that provides polling place information.

The same group is also responsible for a similar mailer advocating a "no" vote on the voter photographic identification referendum on the April ballot.

Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

April 3, 2025

Look Ahead America is a right-wing organization founded in 2017 by campaign staffer Matt Braynard, a former Donald Trump campaign staffer, that claims to advocate for “rural and blue-collar patriotic Americans who are disaffected and disenfranchised from the nation’s corridors of power.” The organization has portrayed formerly imprisoned participants in the January 6th attack on the Capitol as “political prisoners” and supports Trump’s claim that a substantial number of illegal votes were cast in the 2020 presidential election.

The day before the April 1st election for Wisconsin State Supreme Court, the group sent out texts, accompanied by pictures of scantily clad models – model Emily Ratajkowski in a bikini to men and a bare-chested man with a dog to women - urging text recipients to vote in the election. The text did not explicitly advocate a vote for a particular candidate but did include a link to graphic that compared the candidates’ positions on several issues such as “Recognize Only 2 Genders” and “Enforce Immigration Laws.” By the lights of the organization’s self-avowed ideology, the conservative candidate in the race, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, scored positively on all of them, as opposed to his opponent Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, the contest's eventual winner.

Although the state’s highest court is officially nonpartisan, the state Democratic party and liberal leaning outside spending groups supported Crawford while the state GOP and conservative organizations backed Schimel. Indeed, Schimel, who formerly served as Wisconsin State Attorney General as a Republican, even boasted of his endorsement by President Trump. With a member of its 4-3 majority retiring, the court’s ideological makeup was at stake. Crawford’s victory means liberals should maintain control of the court for the next three years. The next court election is in 2026, but the justice up for reelection comes from the court’s conservative wing.

The group’s text also advocated for a “yes” vote on a referendum requiring photo IDs to vote. The vote on that issue went the group’s way.

Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

July 16, 2025

Oath • Spending

This is the Milwaukee branch of the state Republican party. This is the first time it has reported making independent expenditures in a state election, but as with the other two GOP parties reporting such spending in the spring elections, here and here, these may be misreported in-kind contributions to the candidates in question.

In July, more than three months after the spring election in April, the party first reported that it had made independent expenditures to cover canvassing costs in the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin State Supreme Court and State Superintendent of Public races.

In the court race, it supported Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Republican Wisconsin State Attorney General Brad Schimel against Democratically backed Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford for an open seat on the high court. Going into the election, liberals enjoyed a 4-3 majority on the court that they had won in the 2023 election. A Schimel victory would have given control back to conservatives. Crawford won the contest ensuring liberal control of the court.

In the other race, the party supported challenger Brittany Kinser, an educational consultant and former charter school lobbyist, against first-term incumbent Jill Underly. Underly, like Crawford, received substantial backing from the state Democratic party. Underly won that election too.

Hijacking Campaign 2025 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2025

July 16, 2025

Oath • Spending

Based in Antigo, this is the Langlade County branch of the state Republican party. This is the first time it has reported making independent expenditures in a state election, but as with the other two GOP parties reporting such spending in the spring elections, here and here, these may be misreported in-kind contributions to the candidates in question.

About two months after the spring election in early June, the party first reported that it had made independent expenditures for newspaper advertising in the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin State Supreme Court and State Superintendent of Public races.

In the court race, it supported Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Republican Wisconsin State Attorney General Brad Schimel against Democratically backed Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford for an open seat on the high court. Going into the election, liberals enjoyed a 4-3 majority on the court that they had won in the 2023 election. A Schimel victory would have given control back to conservatives. Crawford won the contest.

In the other race, the party supported challenger Brittany Kinser, an educational consultant and former charter school lobbyist, against first-term incumbent Jill Underly. Underly, like Crawford, received substantial backing from the state Democratic party. Underly won that election too.