OUR DEMOCRACY USA issued the following announcement on July 28.
As millions lost jobs and the economy tanked, wealthy special interests and their campaign contributors appeared to be immune from the coronavirus.
Legislative candidate and fundraising committees raised a record of more than $7.1 million in the first half of 2020 when the pandemic began slashing income and spending in March for many Wisconsin residents.
The previous January-June legislative fundraising record for a comparable, even-numbered election year was $5.1 million in 2016. As of June 30, legislative candidates and fundraising committees also had a record $11.3 million in their campaign accounts. The previous record for total cash-on-hand at the mid-point in a general election year was about $7.3 million, also set in 2016.
By party, legislative fundraising between Republicans and Democrats during the first six months was relatively close, but GOP candidates closed the reporting period with substantially more in the bank. Republican candidates and fundraising committees raised about $3.66 million and had about $7.55 million in their accounts. Democratic candidates and committees raised about $3.46 million and had about $3.76 million in their campaign accounts.
The top fundraisers were the four legislative campaign committees (LCC) used by Republican and Democratic Assembly and Senate legislative leaders to tap powerful special interests for campaign cash at election time. The four committees collectively raised a record $2.76 million and had a record $4.55 million in their campaign accounts at the end of June. The figures mean they accounted for about 40 percent of the legislative fundraising and cash-on-hand. (See Table 1.)
Legislative Campaign Committee Fundraising in the First Six Months of 2020
The top candidate committee fundraisers during the first six months of 2020 were all candidates in open seats or targeted races, including:
32 nd Senate District GOP candidate Dan Kapanke, of La Crosse, $187,413
32 nd Senate District Democratic candidate Brad Pfaff, of Onalaska, $155,193
94 th Assembly District Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle, of Onalaska, $132,183
74 th Assembly District Democratic Rep. Beth Meyers, of Bayfield, $117,323
24 th Senate District Democratic candidate Paul Piotrowski, of Stevens Point, $110,471
Candidate committees with the top cash balances as of June 30 were:
GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, of Rochester, $355,118
24 th Senate District Republican Sen. Patrick Testin, of Stevens Point, $261,843
8 th Senate District GOP Sen. Alberta Darling, of River Hills, $181,394
94 th Assembly District Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle, of Onalaska, $174,235
32 nd Senate District GOP candidate Dan Kapanke, of La Crosse, $168,778
(See Table 2 below for a complete list of all candidates with their 2020 fundraising and June 30 cash balance.)
One factor for the record numbers in legislative fundraising in the first half of 2020 is the large pool of candidates. This year there are 271 registered legislative candidates, compared to 230 in 2016 when the previous fundraising records were set.
But the chief driver in sharp fundraising and spending by candidates in recent years was sweeping changes to campaign finance laws enacted in 2015 by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled legislature.
Those changes included doubling candidate contribution limits, allowing unlimited aggregate individual and political committee contributions in a calendar year or election, allowing unlimited individual contributions to the four legislative campaign committees, and allowing legislative campaign committees to accept contributions from corporations for the first time in more than 100 years.
Original source here.
Alerts Sign-up