The group Mandela Barnes created after his failed U.S. Senate run spent four times what the average federal leadership PAC dropped on administrative costs while giving a third as much to other campaigns, a WisPolitics review shows.

But Barnes’ gubernatorial campaign argued focusing on the $138,396 that The Long Run PAC gave directly to other campaigns in 2023-24 doesn’t properly account for the solicitations it made on behalf of others. All told, the campaign says it both raised and directly contributed more than $445,000 for campaigns in the state and nation when also taking into account the first half of 2025.

“Our unique approach has allowed us to mobilize Lt. Gov. Barnes’s sizable base of grassroots support to raise hundreds of thousands for candidates aligned with our mission,” the spokesperson said. “We believe that this approach both aligns with Lt. Gov. Barnes’s values – and is the most effective way for us to help elect candidates who will move the country in the right direction.”

State GOP spokesperson Anika Rickard knocked Barnes over the PAC’s spending.

“Mandela Barnes running an uncontrolled bloated administrative PAC is no surprise,” she said. “After four years in (Dem Gov. Tony) Evers’ administration, bloated administrations is all he knows.”

OpenSecrets provided WisPolitics data on more than 890 federal leadership PACs for the 2023-24 cycle that show on average 45.6% of their funds were passed onto other candidates, while 8.7% of their itemized expenses went to administrative costs. Those expenses include travel, office rent and supplies, utilities, equipment, food, meetings, and services such as accounting, compliance, and legal.

For the 2023-24 cycle, Barnes’ Long Run PAC sent $138,396 to candidates and committees while dropping $372,319 on administrative costs.

That amounts to 14.1% of the PAC’s money going to other candidates, while 38.1% of its itemized expenses were administrative. 

WisPolitics also checked OpenSecrets’ breakdowns of the leadership PACs for the seven incumbent Wisconsin House members in the 2023-24 cycle, as well as both of the state’s U.S. senators. Barnes’ administrative costs were higher than those for any of the federal lawmakers.

GOP U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s Dam Man PAC, for example, put 93.8% of its funds in the 2023-24 cycle into other campaigns. Still, the GOP guv candidate’s PAC raised and spent a fraction of The Long Run PAC over that cycle with just $28,776 in expenses and $20,100 in contributions.

The Long Run PAC spent nearly $1.1 million over 2023-24, more than any of the leadership PACs registered to Wisconsin’s incumbent federal lawmakers in that span.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s People’s Voice PAC was the most active of those linked to incumbent Wisconsin lawmakers, with $820,796 in itemized expenses over the 2023-24 cycle. Of that, a third of the PAC’s funds went to other committees, while it spent less than 1% on administrative costs.

Dem U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore’s Gwen PAC, meanwhile, directed 33.9% of its spending toward administrative costs, the highest among Wisconsin’s federal lawmakers. OpenSecrets found 9.3% of the PAC’s $428,711 in itemized expenses went to other committees. 

Meanwhile, GOP U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s PAC had the second-highest share of expenses going to administrative costs in the delegation at 21.5%.

Barnes, who narrowly lost the 2022 Senate race to Johnson, announced the creation of The Long Run PAC in 2023. Barnes vowed at the time to help to “support diverse and ground-breaking candidates around the country.” He used $565,700 in leftover funds from his 2022 Senate campaign to help launch The Long Run PAC, and it has since reported $876,709 in receipts, according to FEC filings.

Like Barnes, Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski also created a federal PAC after her failed 2022 Senate bid. OpenSecrets found 59.35% of Women Win Wisconsin’s itemized expenses were administrative during the 2023-24 cycle, while 13.3% went to campaigns. The PAC’s expenses included payments to some staffers and consultants who worked on Godlewski’s U.S. Senate bid, and the PAC filed a termination report on July 31, 2023, after spending $150,369 to take its balance down to zero.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez created a state PAC to help legislative candidates after she took office in 2023. OpenSecrets doesn’t analyze state PACs, making a comparison of administrative costs difficult. Still, a WisPolitics check of its filings show the PAC spent $24,597 over the last half of 2023 and all of 2024. Of that, $13,000 was donated to other committees, accounting for 52.9% of its expenses over that period.

There was also crossover between her PAC and Rodriguez’s campaign, with both making payments to Goodman Campaigns, a Texas firm, for consulting.

Barnes earlier this month formally launched his bid for guv, telling WisPolitics at the time The Long Run PAC wouldn’t be converted into Barnes’ campaign fund and any donations would be “disclosed in full accordance with campaign finance law.” 

Meanwhile, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold faced criticism in 2015 over the activities of a PAC he created after his 2010 reelection loss.

As Feingold sought a rematch with Johnson, news reports in 2015 found the Progressives United PAC had spent 5.5% of its money to directly support candidates out of the $6.3 million it doled out between January 2011 and June 2015. That included $1.7 million in payroll expenses for up to 13 staffers.

The share of the Long Run PAC’s funds going to candidates is more than 2.5 times what Progressives United sent to committees. Meanwhile, between January 2023 and the end of June, The Long Run PAC reported $157,304 in payroll, payroll taxes and services for two employees, a fraction of the staff Progressives United was carrying. 

Both Long Run staffers are now working on Barnes’ gubernatorial campaign.

2025 donations include Supreme Court candidate Crawford, Virginia AG contender

OpenSecrets hasn’t yet begun to break down PAC’s expenses for the 2025-26 cycle. But a WisPolitics check of The Long Run’s filing for the first six months of 2025 shows the group has made $15,000 in contributions to candidates out of the $139,439 the Long Run reported spending, about 10.8% of its overall outlays.

Those 2025 donations include $7,000 to liberal Susan Crawford’s campaign for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, $5,000 to state Superintendent Jill Underly’s reelection campaign and $2,000 to Dem AG candidate Jay Jones of Virginia.

The donation to Jones was made in June, months before private, 3-year-old text messages from the Dem AG nominee emerged showing him fantasizing about shooting the then-House speaker and his children. Jones went on to win and will be the first Black attorney general in Virginia history.

This article first ran the in the Dec. 19 edition of the Friday REPORT.

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