GREEN BAY, Wis — On primary election night, Congressman Tony Wied told WBAY, “I think people are very excited about the way the economy is going.” This week, with gas near $4.00 a gallon across Wied’s district and Wisconsin grocery costs at record highs, his taxpayer-funded television ads are back on the air across northeast Wisconsin, telling families how much money he has put in their pockets. The ads are paid for with official House funds. His most recent public expense report shows $100,618.75 in taxpayer money spent on “advertisements” in a single quarter, even though his campaign reported more than half a million dollars in the bank as of July 22, 2026.

“We are hearing from constituents across the district seeing this ad, asking ‘what is he doing?’ Drive through any town in this district and read the gas signs, then listen to the congressman say people are excited about this economy,” said Rick Crosson, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and the Democratic nominee for Congress in Wisconsin’s 8th District. “Families here are not excited. They are squeezed, and now, they are paying for the commercials that tell them otherwise. It’s offensive. A congressman who touts rooting out government waste looked at his options, saw more than five hundred thousand dollars sitting in his campaign account, and billed the taxpayers instead. Pull the ads. Pay your own way. Better yet, come to a town hall and hear how the economy is actually going.”

Wied’s official House office paid Article I Communications LLC $100,618.75 for “ADVERTISEMENTS” in the first quarter of 2026, plus $14,279.38 for frankable printing, according to the House Statement of Disbursements, the most recent quarter publicly available. The television ads themselves, filed on the House franking website, carry the disclaimer “Paid for by official funds authorized by the House of Representatives.”  These ads are running across streaming platforms, cable, and YouTube.  Under House rules, members may run these taxpayer-funded ads until Sept. 3, 60 days before the general election. Wied’s campaign committee reported $515,561.16 in cash on hand as of July 22, 2026, according to its own pre-primary FEC filing.

“The congressman wants us to focus on the temporary tax relief the One Big Beautiful Bill gives to some people, while ignoring the extra ten or twenty dollars it is taking each time we fill up our gas tanks to get to work, or the added cost of groceries, health insurance, and any number of the everyday essentials it takes to live even a modestly comfortable life. It is not enough to claim victory for one accomplishment, even one where a small amount of relief is significant for many people, while ignoring the affordability crisis all around us that negates that relief almost as quickly as it arrives. The people of Northeast Wisconsin deserve more from their elected officials,” Crosson added.

In Congressman Wied’s own words, as he demands from others, “We deserve answers, and he must be held accountable.”

Crosson, who won the August 11 Democratic primary, is planning in-person town halls in all corners of the district, with town halls so far confirmed in Waupaca hosted by the Farmers Union, Greenville, and Sevastopol. Every event is open to the public, including to the congressman, who has held no in-person town halls since taking office in 2024. Details will be available at RickCrosson.com.

Rick Crosson is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and Master Army Aviator who served 20 years in combat aviation units from platoon level to echelons above corps. He comes from a generational military family. After the Army, Crosson held senior executive roles in transportation and logistics, most recently as Chief Operating Officer. He has served on the Green Bay Board of Education and currently serves on the Brown County Library Board and the UW Stevens Point Business Advisory Council. He lives in Green Bay. Learn more at RickCrosson.com