More than 73 million dollars.
That is how much just three billionaires with Wisconsin ties have contributed to Republican campaigns and committees this year at least according to reports But big money in Wisconsin politics is absolutely nothing new So the question is how did we get here?
And what do the state's campaign finance laws actually allow?
Joining us to break all of this down is Nick Ramos.
He is the executive director at the Wisconsin democracy campaign Nick Thank you so much for joining us and having what is
is again, a very important discussion.
So we're gonna, let's just jump right into this, okay?
Because I mentioned some of that recent reporting and it does show that three billionaires with Wisconsin ties have contributed that $73 million to Republican campaigns and committees just this year.
How does that compare with previous Wisconsin elections and are we seeing a new level of political spending in the state?
Wow.
Jamie, I just want to thank you so much for really not just taking the time, but giving the proper attention to an issue that my organization, Wisconsin Moxie Campaign, we have been working on since our inception, which was 1995, and now we're in 2026.
And we are still grappling with this behemoth in the room, and it is our broken campaign finance system.
And when we're watching these extraordinary amounts, I think it's natural to at first ask, all right, so just in terms of like the history and the past precedent of campaign spending, where do we line up?
And I can say like,
The last record-breaking gubernatorial year that we had it's not a shocker.
It's 2022 And you know it was around 120 million plus As it's a day.
I mean we're looking at 60 70 million with a week to go and you know There's gonna be a lot more money that gets dropped.
I think what's really fascinating is the the
mega millionaires or billionaires.
I mean, I don't know what to call them properly.
The ultra wealthy that have been contributing in this race.
What's really unprecedented is that, you know, because of our broken campaign finance laws, it's really easy if you max out to the candidate of your choice.
Rest assured, you're not out of the game entirely.
You can go directly to the party of your choice and the party can do unlimited transfers between them and the coalition or like the candidate, the campaign.
And so, you know, we're watching right now a very unprecedented amount of like direct spending to the party.
I think the last check I saw for like the U lines and I think even, you know, Ms.
Hendricks is included in this.
It's at to like 31.6 million.
I think the biggest number before that was about like 2 million.
That's a 11.6% increase in terms of just this dedicated amount of high spending for a campaign.
And so, you know, we're seeing some really wonky stuff and I would not be surprised if we if we end up breaking the 2022 record in terms of
a campaign spending just because there's so much happening and a lot of independent expenditures and and a lot of vested interests in state and a lot out of the state that are trying to decide who's going to be the next governor of Wisconsin.
And let's go stay with that for just a minute because Wisconsin does have some limits on how much individuals can contribute directly to the candidates.
But as you rightly pointed out, millions of dollars still move through the political parties and through those committees.
So can you explain how that works and what Wisconsin law allows and who is making the decision as to where that money actually gets distributed?
Great, great, great.
These are great questions to be asking.
So in terms of just the you and I number, like if you wanted to directly support Tom Tiffany or David Crowley, you as an individual can do $20,000, right?
And that is a change among a lot of other changes that happened back in 2015.
During the governor, during the Walker administration,
We change not just the limits that folks can directly reach their candidate of their choice, but it also created this Wild West echo chamber that we see now where it made it legal for individuals that have unlimited money.
You could go to the political party of your choice.
That party can transfer unlimited amounts to the candidates.
It's like a glorified, like money laundering scheme that's all kosher, all legit.
And at the end of the day, you have to look.
I mean, people think that it's just Citizens United, but Citizens United is but one of these, you know, very fine cuts to, you know, these infinite cuts to our democracy and to campaign finance spending, where it makes it really hard for the average everyday person to feel like they have a space in this.
But I just want people to
Really just remember and know this that money can't vote but you can and like you're seeing this on Like this unprecedented amount of spending that is happening and folks you should be asking questions like you know What's the point of having contribution limits if somebody can simply route their money through the political party and
that's why it's like that's why we call it this billionaire loophole and it's exactly what we're witnessing right now in wisconsin and it's not just that but then like when i mentioned independent expenditures um you know people see a bunch of ads and it might not necessarily be from the tom tiffani campaign or the david crowley campaign but it might be friends of them or it might be like
you know so some type of just name that's out there doing hit pieces and attack ads and they can run up the score and do as many of them as they want as long as they are not coordinating with the
the political candidate and like they have these different rules that they apply by where they don't have to necessarily like if it's a super PAC or if it's a C for tax, you know, for organization, then you don't have to like disclose your donors and folks, you know, they have all different types of reasons as to why they don't want the world knowing that they want to contribute to Wisconsin governor's race.
But like all of that is to say, and that's a lot of information.
It's like
The people have shown especially after the 2025 Supreme Court race where we yet again broke, you know Not just a state record but a national record for state Supreme Court spending on an election that
People in Wisconsin are smart and they don't like to feel like somebody is trying to put their thumb on the scale, especially if it's somebody from out of state.
And so I want people to really dial in in this last week and some change to make sure that you're getting educated on the issues.
You're paying attention to this money because we've got a lot to work to do to try and fix the system.
But in real time, it should not make you feel smaller.
It should not make you feel like your voice or your vote doesn't matter because it does.
And that will be the ultimate deciding factor.
when it comes down to this election.
He's the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
We're discussing the millions of dollars that the flows into Wisconsin elections, how the campaign finance laws work in the state, and what that spending means for voters.
Now, Nick, if we took out those multi-million dollar contributions from this year's governor's race,
How would these campaigns look different?
And how much of the advertising and other campaign activity that we're seeing is made possible because of those contributions?
It would look radically different.
I mean, it's hard.
It's hard as Wisconsinites to really appreciate such a utopian idea.
But I mean, that's what
That's when you're trying to watch the game and shout out to the Brewers for being in the World Series.
I mean, 44 years.
We're back, baby.
I like, you know...
the commercials, your mailbox, your phone and the text messages that you receive every day.
I mean, I don't know about you, but it feels like every year we just kind of get more numb to the fact that this is just what life is like in Wisconsin.
And I don't want people to become numb to that prospect.
Just like, you know, with voter ID, people have become numb to the prospect.
They're like, oh man, voter ID, we need it to go vote, but it's such an unnecessary like barrier and like a disenfranchised so many people.
So you shouldn't just get numb.
you know to the things that really are bad for us and like in this case like we're so used to you know breaking records when it comes to spending we're so used to our elections being the epicenter of the universe and like right now if you took all their money away I mean look like we'd be talking about still millions of dollars but we would not be you know
playing chicken with a hundred million dollar price tag and think about all the things that that money could actually be going towards.
Think if your elected officials didn't have to be glorified telemarketers and have to do their best dance and sing in front of, you know, the richest people in the room.
to go try and win these races but actually take that time spending it trying to talk with you the constituent to try and actually work to fix our problems it's like people have become so jaded and apathetic not just in wisconsin but across the country with their politicians because it's all this loud talk everybody's doing everything you know
to get your vote then they go you know to their office and then what you don't get to really hear from them until things are really going sideways I mean that's not the way that our republic or our democracy ought to work and so like I like to think about what the future can be and like right now we have really some great opportunities to think about fixing this problem and creating systems like public campaign finance reform where
There can be a set of money that is state money that incentivizes these candidates to start speaking with as many constituents.
receiving small dollar donations from these constituents and hitting a certain threshold to show that you're actually getting you know community support and this isn't just some kind of flash in the pan and you're just trying to take money but you actually are building something and and make it so that you incentivize folks to spend time with the people and they get to open up this chest of money that they could use for their campaigns and it's not going to be the millions and the millions that you see here but it'd be enough to be able to go try and win an election and like it would make our system
better in the long haul and you see great examples of this all around the country all around the world and like we want to make sure that the power is truly in the people's hands and not in the billionaires hands who get the right the biggest checks and get to command these folks to do whatever they want because they get to send them money that we can't even do unless we're playing Monopoly and so there's a lot of work to be done but like I'm telling you it can be it can be different here in the next couple of years if we continue to show up we continue to vote our values and we
continue to show these rich people that they don't control us and that our voices actually matter kind of day.
I mean, it's been really difficult, you know, when a
Political party gets to control as long as like the Republicans have under the gerrymandered maps that have existed for over 15 years.
It's hard to have any good faith conversations with people when they don't have to listen to you.
They have the numbers in the majority.
They don't need to play fair or even try and have anything in the in the lane of bipartisanship, but
This this problem is one that Democrats Republicans independence they all take advantage of I mean at this point like the Republicans might have been the ones at the time that like rewrote our raw rewrote our laws but like you know the Democrats using the same system have been able to out raise and and and spend more money than the Republicans at times and I think like people get really comfortable with the uncomfortable and I think you know
We need to be thinking about solutions that are actually going to be politician and elected official proof that you know the political pendulum swings you know left and right you know consistently and we need to really start thinking about what is going to be healthy and good for the people of Wisconsin and I think a couple of the really good ideas that I see get presented and like you said our organization with a coalition of other folks that are really concerned about this.
preparing and planning and going to action on in 2027 and beyond is you know there isn't a lot in the form of transparency and like you know there isn't a lot in terms of disclosures when it comes to our ads when it comes to who is spending money and even being able to find out who is the original source of this money and
The electorate deserves to know.
I think, you know, if just like you want to know where, you know, your beef is coming from, you want to know where your produce is coming from.
Like people need to know who is spending money and why.
And I think like we have some really good opportunities to, you know, get disclosure through like be able to get transparency through disclosure by, you know, making sure that we
We have a database and an archive to be able to track all of these ads that are coming out and be able to show who are the original people are creating it.
Where is this money coming from?
If you ever watch The Wire, they always say in there, if you track the money, you can find where the players are.
And guess what?
In this case, we don't do a good enough job because it's so robust and we've allowed it to be this wonky Willy Wonka game where it's all this different stuff happening at once.
to take some time and slow it down so that these races don't continue to just be record breaking and that we can actually start investing this money towards things that we really need.
I mean water and like good paying jobs and making sure that the taxpayer money is being used for things that the taxpayers need instead of lighting it on fire every single damn election.
I think people are getting really tired of having to have their mailboxes stuffed.
their emails packed, their text messages packed, getting to see all these ads constantly around the clock.
I think people want to be able to live their lives to the best of their ability and an economy like this.
I think we're, we're looking around and seeing how hard it is to fill up our gas tanks, how hard it is to put all the groceries in the grocery cart.
And yet we have all this money to go light on fire to make somebody win an election.
I mean, the, the priorities are out of whack.
And I think we got a real duty here to change that so that again,
The power is not in the billionaires and the millionaires people in their hands, but in our hands.
Nick Ramos, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, thank you so much for joining us and helping explain how money is moving through Wisconsin's political campaigns.
With millions of dollars being spent ahead of the November 3rd election, understanding who's funding those campaigns and how the system works is important.
We're going to continue following the money and the races across Wisconsin.
Remember, for more election coverage and stories affecting our state, visit civicmedia.us.