Assembly and Senate Dems for the first time have done joint buys in two markets as they seek to stretch their resources against the better-funded Republican caucuses.
In both cases, the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and the State Senate Democratic Committee bought time in 30-second blocks. But each is running a 15-second ad in that window.
That includes a $461,475 buy in the 21st SD and the 61st AD, both in southeastern Wisconsin, and $48,600 in the 31st SD and the 92nd AD, in the western part of the state, according to AdImpact.
SSDC Executive Director Andrew Whitley told WisPolitics in an email its research shows 15-second spots can deliver 80% of the impact of a 30-second ad, and “when you are up against three billionaires who are content to write 10s of millions of dollars to buy a couple legislative chambers you have to get crafty.”
Both the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee and the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate have had significant financial advantages over their Dem counterparts to date in 2026.
CERS reported raising $7.3 million through late September and finished the reporting period with nearly $5 million in the bank. Meanwhile, SSDC had raised $4.4 million and had $1.3 million cash on hand.
RACC has raised nearly $16.8 million on the year and had $11.2 million in the bank in late September, while ADCC had raised almost $9.4 million and had less than $5.2 million cash on hand.
Liz Uihlein has given $7 million to RACC this year and $2 million to the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate. Meanwhile, Diane Hendricks has donated $8 million to RACC and $3.75 million to CERS, while also contributing directly to 35 legislative campaigns.
The open 21st SD features Dem Trevor Jung, the transit director for Racine, and Jim Croft, a small business owner. The joint buy is with Dem Ben Brist, an Army veteran who’s challenging state Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield.
Meanwhile, Republican Michele Magadance Skinner, a former TV reporter and Eau Claire County Board member, is challenging Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, in the 31st, and Dem Jeremiah Fredrickson, the Elm Mound owner of Jeremiah’s Bullfrog Fish Farm, is running against state Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, in the 92nd AD.
In addition to the joint buy with Brist, Jung also has a $2.4 million buy of his own. Altogether, Jung and his allies have laid down $3.3 million in reservations since Aug. 11, compared to $1.5 million by Croft and his allies.
In the 61st, Donovan and his supporters had $2.7 million in reservations, while Brist and his backers were at $1.2 million.
The 15-second ad running in the Senate race as part of that joint buy charges Croft was “recruited and trained to run for office by far-right billionaires who want to privatize Social Security and Medicare.”
In the 92nd AD, Moses and his allies had $1.2 million in reservations as of today, compared to $495,000 for Frederickson and his backers.
And in the 31st SD, Magadance Skinner and her supporters were at more than $1 million, while Smith and his backers had $646,000 in reservations.
The Dem ad in that race shows a brick building as the text on the screen indicates it’s a polling place in Eau Claire but says Magadance Skinner doesn’t vote there because she lives in Georgia.
The final text reads, “Hey Magadance, you want our vote? Maybe try living here first.”