August 2, 2022
Legislative candidates and fundraising committees continued to accept contributions at a record clip, pulling in $7.47 million during the first six months of 2022.
The latest six-month haul by legislative candidates and the four legislative campaign committees (LCCs) beat the previous record $7.12 million set during the first half of 2020.
The 2022 mid-year fundraising figure was also 26 percent higher than the $5.91 million raised during the comparable first six months of 2018 when legislative races and statewide contests for governor and the other state constitutional offices were on the November ballot.
Candidate committee fundraising was about $70,000 less in the first half of 2022 than in the first half of 2020 – $4.29 million versus $4.36 million. But fundraising by the four LCCs continued to surge at a record pace that started in 2016.
The LCCs raised $3.18 million in the first six months of 2022, surpassing the old record of $2.76 million set in 2020 by 16 percent.
Legislative Campaign Committee Fundraising in the First Six Months of 2022
| Committee | Fundraising | June 30 Cash Balance |
|---|---|---|
| Republican Assembly Campaign Committee | $1,500,570 | $3,583,585 |
| Committee to Elect a Republican Senate | $771,185 | $1,958,365 |
| Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee | $550,292 | $591,177 |
| State Senate Democratic Committee | $362,698 | $292,058 |
| TOTAL | $3,184,745 | $6,425,185 |
LCCs are used by Republican and Democratic legislative leaders to raise individual, PAC, and corporate contributions from wealthy special interests mostly to spend on elections.
By party, Republican candidate committees and LCCs raised $4.36 million and Democratic candidate committees and LCCs raised $3.11 million, mostly due fundraising by the GOP LCCs. Without the LCCs, the 110 Senate and Assembly Democratic candidates raised $2.2 million, which was about $106,000 more than the $2.09 million raised by 148 Senate and Assembly Republican candidates.
Republican candidates and LCCs also had much more cash on hand on June 30, a little more than four months before the November elections, than Democratic candidates and LCCs. Republican legislative committee cash balances on June 30 totaled $9.35 million compared to the $3.44 million held by Democratic legislative committees.
The total $12.79 million in cash campaign cash by both Republican and Democratic candidate and fundraising committees on June 30 th broke the previous record of $11.3 million set for the first six months of 2020.
After the four LCCs, the legislative candidates who raised the most money in the first six months of 2022 were:
Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle, of Onalaska, $547,972;
Democratic Rep. Katrina Shankland, of Stevens Point, $248,451;
Republican Brian Westrate, of Fall Creek, $144,057;
Democratic Sen. Jeff Smith, of Brunswick, $131,774;
Republican Rep. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, of Appleton, $125,802.
After the four LCCs, the candidates who had the largest cash balances in their campaign accounts as of June 30 were:
Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle, of Onalaska, $667,370;
Republican Sen. Howard Marklein, of Spring Green, $465,514;
Democratic Rep. Katrina Shankland, of Stevens Point, $269,665;
Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, of Oostburg, $263,195;
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, of Rochester, $241,696.
The record pace at which the four LCCs now operate are the result of sweeping changes to campaign finance laws enacted in 2015 by former GOP Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature. Those changes allow political parties and the four LCCs to accept contributions from corporations of up to $12,000 a year each for the first time in more than 100 years. The changes also removed the limits on contributions that individuals may give to LCCs, as well as the limits on the contributions that LCCs can give to candidates or parties. There used to be a $10,000 limit on individual gifts to LCCs. Now there is no limit on how much an individual can give to an LCC or a political party.