MADISON, Wis. — New reporting reveals that even some of Maria Lazar’s most vocal far-right allies are losing confidence in her campaign. Conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell — who hosted Lazar on his show less than two months ago — went on a fiery on-air rant over her disappointing fundraising numbers, even going as far as saying he feels Lazar may have already lost the race.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Conservative radio host calls Lazar fundraising ‘a five-alarm fire’
By: Mary Spicuzza | 1/23/26
Conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell railed against disappointing fundraising numbers reported last week by state Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar, the Republican-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court who took in only one-tenth as much money as her Democratic-backed opponent.
“Sometimes fundraising numbers, especially a fundraising discrepancy between two contenders for the same office, is so great that it ignites a five-alarm fire within political circles,” O’Donnell said during his Jan. 14 show on WISN-AM (1130). “Today’s Supreme Court fundraising totals did just that.”
Lazar reported raising about $200,000 — a tenth of the $2 million haul raked in by her opponent, liberal state Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor.
“I don’t think I need to tell you that is abysmal,” O’Donnell said of the stark difference in campaign cash.
The Jan. 15 fundraising reports, which covered the second half of last year, provided only an early glimpse into the race. But Election Day is April 7, less than three months away, meaning Lazar has little time to try to close the fundraising gap.
Lazar got in the race in October, about a month after incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley announced she wouldn’t seek reelection. Taylor, who launched her campaign in May, has reported raising $2.6 million, including about $2 million during the last half of 2025.
Campaign funds help candidates buy airtime for television advertisements, hire campaign staff and pay for voter outreach, including text messages and mailers.
“This one, folks, I’m just going to level with you here. It really is starting to feel like this race is already lost,” O’Donnell said.
Liberals won a 4-3 majority on the state’s highest court in 2023 and secured it in 2025. If Taylor wins in April, it would be liberals’ fourth Supreme Court victory in a row dating to 2020.
Lazar and Taylor are competing for the seat vacated by Bradley, a staunch conservative, who announced in late August that she had decided against running for another 10-year term. A Taylor victory would expand the liberal majority to 5-2, while a Lazar win would maintain the current split.
Taylor’s haul is so far similar to the funds raised last year by Justice Susan Crawford, who went on to win the April 2025 election after a race that shattered nationwide campaign spending records for a judicial election. It included heavy spending by the super PAC run by billionaire Elon Musk, which spent $47.4 million in the first half of 2025 as the group was trying to help the conservative candidate in the race. O’Donnell praised Lazar, saying he thinks she has been a fantastic judge and would be a fantastic justice.
“But the problem is, in order to be a fantastic judge, you first have to get elected to the position,” he said.
O’Donnell accused her of running a “lackluster campaign.”
Conservatives have suffered a string of Supreme Court defeats in recent years.
Former Justice Dan Kelly, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2016 by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, lost his seat in 2020, when Justice Jill Karofsky defeated him by 11 percentage points. She has gone on to become the court’s chief justice.
Kelly lost again in 2023 to liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz by about the same margin.
Then in 2025, conservative candidate Brad Schimel lost to Crawford, the liberal candidate, by about 10 percentage points.
O’Donnell warned that this year’s election could be even worse for conservatives.
“I’m just going to be completely frank with you all,” he said. “With these fundraising numbers, I don’t see how Maria Lazar gets within 15, if not 20, of Chrissy Taylor. I don’t.”
On Jan. 16, O’Donnell also questioned why Lazar was talking about abortion during the race.
“Why are we dragging up the abortion issue. The single worst issue for conservatives for the past three, four years now we’re going on four years since Roe v Wade was overturned,” he said. “Why even bring this up? I just I have some very serious and harsh questions about how this campaign is being run.”
