FRI REPORT (Accordion Test): WisPolitics tally: Supreme Court race spending tops $100M, nearly doubling previous record

The world’s richest man’s involvement in the state Supreme Court hits a fever pitch with whipsaw 24 hours in which his America PAC picks Ainsworth as its first $1 million winner for signing an online petition targeting “activist judges” and then pledges to visit Wisconsin on Sunday to dole out two more $1 million checks to thank people for voting only to reverse course and say it’ll be for additional people tapped to represent the group.

Musk’s investment in the race is already north of $20 million, not counting these $1 million checks his PAC is waving around. WisPolitics has tracked $20.3 million poured into the race by two Musk-affiliated PACs, and he’s personally donated $3 million to the state GOP, which has made a series of large transfers to the campaign of conservative Brad Schimel.

Musk upped the ante on his involvement with the offer to give registered voters $100 to sign the online petition and to pick some big award winners to act as representatives for the effort. Ainsworth is the first winner. In a video posted on X, Ainsworth says he’s a mechanical engineer and everyone should do what he did, “sign the petition, refer your friends, get out and vote early for Brad Schimel.” He adds, “If everyone in the MAGA movement shows up and votes for Brad Schimel, we will win” and thanks Musk at the end while adding, “this is just too bizarre in my life.”

He’s not the only one trying to wrap their head around Musk’s involvement in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race. On the heels of America PAC announcing Ainsworth as its first $1 million winner, Musk posts on X that he’s coming to Wisconsin Sunday for an event that was to be limited to those who have voted in the spring race with two $1 million checks to be handed out to express his appreciation to those who have voted. Just one problem, some note. State law bars offering someone anything of value to vote. Maybe there’d be a way around that, some suggest, if the payment is actually based on proving the winner cast a ballot. No matter. Musk deletes the original post before going up with a new one to clarify entrance to the event will be limited to those who have signed the petition and the two $1 million checks he’ll hand out will go to “people to be spokesmen for the petition.”

Whether Musk is trying to cover his legal hide or not, Dem AG Josh Kaul doesn’t seem to be having any of it. Kaul says in a statement this afternoon, “The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that elections in Wisconsin are safe, secure, free, and fair. We are aware of the offer recently posted by Elon Musk to award a million dollars to two people at an event in Wisconsin this weekend. Based on our understanding of applicable Wisconsin law, we intend to take legal action today to seek a court order to stop this from happening.”

Kaul today files suit in Dane County Circuit Court against Musk and America PAC, seeking a restraining order barring the defendants from making any payments to Wisconsin electors to vote and barring them from further promotion of the million-dollar gifts to attendees of Sunday’s rally.

The suit focuses on Musk’s original promise to reward those who have actually voted with the new $1 million prizes, arguing that while the original post has been taken down, “neither Musk nor America PAC have announced that the plan to make two $1 million payments to Wisconsin electors who have voted in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election has been cancelled.” The case was originally assigned via random draw to Crawford, who recuses, and has been assigned to another judge.

Some have sought to portray Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race as a referendum on Musk. That isn’t quite accurate to some insiders, though you can’t deny the shadow he’s cast over the race. Some have dismissed Dems’ fascination with villainizing Musk as a waste of time. The people who already can’t stand him are regular spring voters anyway, they argue. You don’t need to put up TV ads about Musk to get those voters to the polls.

Others, though, argue in what’s essentially a base-on-base election, there are few better motivators for Dems than Musk, who seems to inflame liberals in ways that even Donald Trump doesn’t. However the race turns out Tuesday, Musk is taking a big risk with his political operation, some argue. If he — and the rest of the conservative coalition — deliver on Tuesday, it would be a reprieve from the drumbeat of stories about Dems overperforming in off-year elections, which isn’t exactly the headline Trump wants to see. If Musk’s effort comes up short, it would prove anti-Trump enthusiasm is more powerful than the money being poured into the race.

Impressive as those numbers are, insiders continue to note that it’s not just how many people vote early. It’s whether new spring voters are taking advantage of the option. That can’t be deciphered from the raw numbers posted by the Elections Commission each day leading up to Tuesday’s election, when ideological control of the state Supreme Court will be determined.

Insiders, though, who have built voter profiles say what they’re seeing so far are largely regular spring voters who are just heading to the polls earlier than they typically do.

There are still some good signs for conservative Brad Schimel as he tries to expand the electorate. Requests for absentee ballots in deep-red Washington County, for example, are up 75.5% compared to two years ago, and returns have nearly doubled. Overall, there are 43,784 more requests for absentee ballots so far this spring in the WOW counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington — once the heart of GOP country.

But things are also up in Dane County, with 27,990 more requests than two years ago, and Milwaukee County, with 28,482 more requests. All of those won’t be returned, election observers note. And Milwaukee’s return rate of 78% trails all three WOW counties.

But that’s not out of the ordinary, some note, and a final weekend of chasing absentee ballots will produce a better feel of how things are going.

What insiders are really watching is whether Schimel and conservatives are able to get Donald Trump supporters engaged this spring when they typically only turn out when the president is on the ballot. Pull that off, some note, and it widens the path to victory. So seeing absentee numbers up in traditional GOP areas is a welcome sign to some Republicans.

Still, longtime numbers guru Joe Handrick, a Republican redistricting expert, says while the early vote is up across the state — particularly in the WOW counties — a chart he posts on X notes western Wisconsin is lagging behind the rest of Wisconsin. While the early vote was up 53% on Thursday when he made the chart, it was only up 36% in western Wisconsin, which has turned into prime Trump territory. To some, that underscores the challenge Republicans face of getting the president’s supporters engaged. Dems liken it to the challenges they faced getting Barack Obama’s supporters to turn out in off-year elections.

With early voting wrapping up Sunday and mail-in votes due by Tuesday, insiders see the early vote looking worse for Dems than 2023 — but not as good for Republicans as it was in 2024. The more is looks like 2023 when the final numbers are in, the better for Susan Crawford, they add. And Schimel definitely needs the April electorate to look as much like November to improve his chances of victory.

Wisconsin’s record-shattering state Supreme Court race heads into the final days with a $100 million price tag and a distinct spending edge for Schimel, according to the latest WisPolitics tally. Between what he and other groups have laid down in the race, he’s got about a $10 million advantage over Crawford and those backing her — thanks to Elon Musk’s money.

Still, the Dane County Circuit Court judge the biggest single spender in the race. And the more than $24 million she’s put on airwaves means she’s either had an advantage or is at parity with the entire conservative coalition on the broadcast TV, according to numbers shared with WisPolitics by a media buyer source.

But will that be enough to keep the liberal’s’ 2023 coalition together? Two years ago, more than 1.8 million voters headed to the polls in what amounted to a referendum on abortion and to some extent legislative maps drawn by Republicans. In that environment — and 10 months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — liberal Janet Protasiewicz cruised to an 11-point win as she pulled more than 1 million votes. If Crawford keeps that same coalition together, that means Schimel would need to find more than 200,000 additional conservative voters and shepherd them to the polls even though they typically don’t vote in spring elections.

Conservatives take heart in seeing absentee voting up in deep red areas compared to two years ago. That’s a plus for Schimel. But those who study those numbers closely say that’s more a sign of traditional spring voters casting absentee ballots rather than heading to the polls on election day after the Republican Party started pushing early voting last year. If it’s mostly regular April voters, that doesn’t really help Schimel’s cause. He needs to get new voters to get engaged. Still, some say if the effort to turn out Trump backers is successful, you’d like most feel it at the polls on election day. Even with the push by the state GOP to embrace absentee voting, a lot of Trump backers simply don’t believe in it. And Schimel’s strategy in the closing days is heavily focused on engaging Trump voters.

Days after the former president endorses Schimel on social media, Trump joins the Waukesha County judge for a tele-town hall in which he lambasted Crawford as “a very deranged, Soros-funded, left-wing lunatic who opposes voter ID, wants to trample on our Constitution, and is endorsed by socialist Bernie Sanders.” He also warns if Crawford wins, Dems will “unilaterally rewrite Wisconsin’s electoral map, creating a tremendous problem, frankly, for our country.” Many of the president’s supporters would walk across broken glass to vote for him. But they typically haven’t bothered going to the local clerk’s office for anyone else but him.

That’s part of why insiders see Schimel going all in on the Trump endorsement with a closing ad that’s running everywhere but the Madison market — where it would likely hurt just as much as it’d help. He needs those Trump voters to see a reason to turn out, repeatedly saying in public events that if he gets 60% of the president’s voters from last fall to turn out next week, he’ll win.

While some acknowledge the uphill climb for Schimel with a typical spring electorate, they wonder if Crawford can keep the 2023 coalition together. Yes, she’s pounded the airwaves. But is that enough to capture the energy of Dem voters angered with Trump and Musk, especially when they’re not exactly thrilled with their own party? Some see signs of that energy in the more than $27 million that Crawford has now raised. As she went through February and early March putting up seven-figure media buys, some assumed it was a sign that she was getting significant help from the state Dem Party. Yes, the party have now pitched in $10.7 million to aid her. But insiders are blown away by the $10.5 million she’s raised from individual donors in the six-week pre-election period. Heck, Dem Gov. Tony Evers, one of the best fundraisers in Wisconsin history, pulled in $5.6 million from individual donors during the seven-week pre-election period he had ahead of his successful 2022 reelection bid.

Republicans grumble a lot of that money is coming from out of state; through the end of the pre-election period, WisPolitics had tallied $9.6 million in donations from those outside Wisconsin. While GOP critics dub her “California Crawford,” others point out it all spends the same, and she’d still raised about $1.8 million more from Wisconsin donors than Schimel had.

With all that money Crawford has raised, insiders take note of the ground game that conservatives have put together, starting with the $12 million that Elon Musk’s America PAC has dropped on the race, primarily for GOTV, along with the $3.2 million AFP-Wisconsin has spent, also largely to turn out voters for Schimel. And Turning Point USA is hitting the doors for Schimel, too, regularly posting on social media about its efforts to turn out voters. It would be silly to think that much money — especially paired with the conservative coalition on the air — isn’t having an impact on what turnout will look like Tuesday.

Dems acknowledge this will not be a blowout like Protasiewicz’s 2023 win. But can conservatives replicate the surge in 2019 that helped Brian Hagedorn to an upset win? If turnout is 1.8 million like it was in 2023, that’s probably a pretty good sign for Crawford, some say. The more it goes beyond 2 million, the better it likely is for Schimel — if the right combination of voters turns out.

There’s undeniable energy among Dems in the early months of Trump’s second term. Just look at their overperformance in special elections around the country like the Pennsylvania legislative seat that Trump won with 57% of the vote in November, but Dems flipped. Or the GOP worries about a special congressional election for a deep red House seat that looks neck and neck. But there’s a sweet spot now for Dems where the lower the turnout is, the better it is for them. Can Republicans push past that? They’d better hope so for their future prospects in spring races, some say.

Republicans have nationalized this Supreme Court race like they never have before. They have a money advantage. They have Trump urging his supporters to turn out and Republicans warning a failure to do so would threaten the prospects of accomplishing his agenda. If they can’t win now, what does that say for coming spring races?

After this spring, conservatives will be defending Supreme Court seats in 2026 and 2027 before a chance to play offense again. Would the coalition come back to Wisconsin after a loss next week? Likewise, national Dems can ill afford a loss, not with the way their base has been dispirited after Trump’s win last fall and the national party still searching for a leader — and a message. Insiders say losing this race would enhance the narrative of Dems in disarray.

The race to be the state’s top education official has been overshadowed — some would say drowned out — by the record-shattering Wisconsin Supreme Court contest.

Spending in the DPI race, though, has been remarkable by historical standards. As of Thursday afternoon, overall spending favored Underly, $2.7 million to almost $1.8 million backing Kinser. Add in the $125,388 that Jeff Wright spent on his campaign as he finished third in the primary, and overall spending has eclipsed $4.6 million. That easily tops the previous record of $3 million set in 2021.

The bulk of the money that has been backing Underly is the $1.4 million dropped by A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund, which filed a finance report this week that showed $500,000 donations each from WEAC PAC, which is part of the state’s largest teachers union, and the American Federation of Teachers. The education establishment’s pick has long cruised in DPI races.

But conservatives are hoping the almost $2.5 million in financial support Kinser’s campaign has received directly could help change that tide. That haul — well ahead of the nearly $1.4 million that Underly has pulled in — has allowed Kinser to put $1.6 million on TV for the campaign, according to AdImpact. Insiders note the state Dem Party has accounted for nearly $1.1 million of what Underly has raised for her campaign, which some see as a sign of her weakness as an incumbent.

Yes, the state Supreme Court has been sucking up a lot of donor dollars, but that hasn’t stopped Kinser from finding ways to raise cash. The state GOP has accounted for $1.9 million of her haul. But she’s still found a way to connect with donors — particularly conservatives and those associated with the school choice movement — to pull in the money. But it still might not be enough to break through. Kinser has taken a much more high- profile approach to the campaign, regularly appearing at public forums. It has sometimes exposed her own weaknesses when she doesn’t have a deep grasp of policies or funding issues impacting the Department of Public Instruction.

To some, she’s just the vessel for conservatives to put their hopes — and money — into because they can’t stand Underly and the direction of education in Wisconsin. But at least she’s showing up, some say.

Underly has appeared at just one joint public forum and has regularly turned down invitations from various media outlets to field questions on camera. To some, it’s a sign that her campaign is trying to avoid mistakes and do its best to avoid making the race a referendum on her. Because if it’s all about the incumbent, she’d be in real danger of losing.

Underly’s decision to revamp benchmarks for standardized tests has been panned. So has her agency’s failure to disclose Milwaukee Public Schools’ failure to file required financial reports — putting state aid in jeopardy — before a $252 million referendum in spring 2024 that barely passed.

But will anybody remember those issues with all the noise in the state Supreme Court race? With today’s technology, campaigns can target voters on the microlevel, ferreting out those who have a deep interest in the superintendent’s race. But that can’t compete with the tens of millions of dollars on the airwaves and for GOTV efforts in the Supreme Court contest.

Many insiders continue to see the race as tied at the hip to the Supreme Court contest. Liberal Susan Crawford wins the court race, Underly gets a second term as superintendent. Conservative Brad Schimel flips control of the state Supreme Court, Kinser will ride his coattails to become the state’s top education official.

There are those who believe there are other routes to victory. Maybe Kinser could pull off the win, for example, if Milwaukee voters are fed up with Underly after the referendum revelation and the latest round of poor test scores coming out of the state’s largest district. Others don’t put much stock in that theory. Incumbency is a significant advantage most of the time, and the education establishment typically gets its way in these races. If that streak ends next week, it’d be an upset.

In the era of unlimited donations to political parties, the big donors are always going to grab the headlines. The problem with the GOP’s most recent haul, insiders note, is that seems to be all the party had.

A WisPolitics check of the pre-election filing, which covered Feb. 4-March 17, shows just 14 individual donations of $125 or less. Elon Musk, Dick and Liz Uihlein, and Diane Hendricks dominated the report, accounting for $5.7 million of the $7.1 million the party raised. GOP defenders say, at least the party was able to get them to open their checkbooks.

Two years ago, the state GOP reported $1.8 million in contributions during the pre-election period ahead of liberal Janet Protasiewicz beating conservative Daniel Kelly by 11 points in a race that flipped control of the state Supreme Court.

This time around, Republicans have the attention of Musk. Along with the $1 million he gave the state GOP during the pre-election period, he chipped in another $2 million after that reporting period ended. That — combined with money from other big donors — has allowed the state GOP to now transfer $9.4 million to Brad Schimel’s campaign.

It isn’t quite the $10.4 million the state Dem Party has sent to Susan Crawford so far in this campaign. But insiders say the party has proven to be a partner with Schimel to act as a pass-through for those big donations to help the Waukesha County Circuit Court judge and former GOP AG get his message on the air. Candidates get a much better rate than outside groups in buying broadcast TV. So while all the outside help is great for Schimel, insiders note, nothing beats being able to control the message — and get a cheaper rate in the process.

But can the party parlay this performance into something lasting? Insiders have their doubts. Getting Musk’s attention for this race has proven invaluable. But where will his attention be come next month, let alone next year?

That’s what has some Republicans fretting about the lack of a small dollar presence in the GOP’s report. While the state Dem Party pulled in $6 million during the pre-election period — helped by $1 million each from J.B. Pritzker and George Soros — it reported more than 500 donations of $125 or less. Those small-dollar contributors can be the lifeblood of any political organization, and their consistent giving helps keep a political party chugging along even with the national spotlight fades, some note.   

When it happened in 2019, it was believed to be the first time the commission had sent the capital budget to the Finance Committee without a recommendation. Now, it’s the norm.

Evers proposed a $4.3 billion plan with $3.8 billion in new borrowing. GOP members of the commission say there are things they like. The plan just needs to be flushed out more, and the borrowing is on the high side.

Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, raised concerns about the more than $3.8 billion in new bonding Evers had proposed, noting it was more than what the Legislature had approved in the past five capital budgets combined.

Two years ago, Republicans took Evers’ $3.8 billion proposal and knocked it back to $2.8 billion in all funds. This one will likely get a similar haircut at the Joint Finance Committee as Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, argues the capital budget needs to be considered in context of other priorities such as tax cuts, road funding and the costs to continuing Medicaid programs. He argued it was premature to commit to recommending a capital budget.

One of the big-ticket items in Evers’ capital budget is the $493 million in construction costs of his previously announced plan to revamp the state’s prison system, and Felzkowski calls the guv’s plan a missed opportunity because GOP lawmakers hadn’t been consulted as Evers put it together. Felzkowski, whose district includes the troubled youth prisons, Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, is correct, insiders note.

If the guv brought in lawmakers from both sides on the ground floor and they worked collaboratively, it probably would’ve produced something that at least had buy-in from key lawmakers even before he put it in his executive budget.

But that would require a modicum of trust between the two sides, and that just doesn’t exist between the East Wing and GOP legislative leaders. Heck, they barely talk to each other.

At least to Evers’ credit, his office briefed key Republicans on his plan to revamp the prison system before releasing it to the public. That hasn’t always happened. Instead, the pattern has been for the guv to release a proposal and demand Republicans follow his plan to the letter before they sent back their revisions and waited to see what Evers could do to it with his veto pen.

And budget watchers expect that same pattern to repeat itself this summer — assuming GOP lawmakers can get on the same page and pass a budget.

WisPolitics has been keeping a running tally of the spending — a new national record after Wisconsin set one at $56 million just two years ago. To help you understand the magnitude of the effort from both sides, here is a roadmap that shows how the race developed, focusing on the top spenders from each side.

The main drivers have been the national groups who have jumped into the campaign — and the billionaires who have funded the effort. Beyond Musk and some $23 million he and his affiliated PACs have put into the race, Illinois businessman Dick Uihlein has pumped more than $4 million into a group hitting Dane County Judge Susan Crawford on the airwaves, while George Soros has given the state Dem Party $2 million and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has chipped in $1.5 million of his own.

While Musk has left his impression on the race between his personal donations and the two PACs aligned with the world’s richest man, Crawford has been the race’s single biggest spender.

To date, she’s reported $27.2 million raised — and more coming in every day. The total blows away the $16.7 million that fellow liberal Janet Protasiewicz raised for her 2023 campaign, and Crawford has plowed much of it into ad buys. AdImpact had tracked $25.8 million in buys as of this morning. To be conservative in its tally, WisPolitics has combined the spending tracked by AdImpact with the expenses she reported on her January continuing report, which covered what she’d dropped on the race before the ad wars began. That puts her spending at more than $26.4 million — and that figure surely will climb once the final finance reports from the race are filed in July.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, meanwhile, is up to $14 million for ad reservations, according to AdImpact. Add in the $446,069 he reported spending between getting in the race in late 2023 and the end of 2024, and he’s near $14.5 million. Considering he’s reported raising $15 million so far, his number also will likely climb once the final reports are in.

In all, WisPolitics has tracked almost $56 million from Schimel and those backing him compared to $46 million by Crawford and the groups supporting her. Despite the spending advantage for the other side, Crawford had an advantage for gross ratings points — a measure of how often ads are seen — on broadcast TV for the campaign, according to numbers from a media buyer source.

The tally is based on independent expenditure filings with the state, data tracked by AdImpact, information from media buyer sources and others with knowledge of the efforts. Here are thumbnails of the other top spenders in the race, including details of how they’ve spent their money:

America PAC: One of two Musk-aligned groups playing in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, the group had reported more than $12 million spent on independent expenditures through Thursday afternoon. Of that:

• $6 million was labeled canvassing/field operations 
• $2 million was for digital media
• $1.7 million for printing/postage
• $1.3 million for texting
• and $1 million for messaging phone calls

The group also mounted a drive in the final days of the race offering registered voters $100 to sign an online petition opposing “activist judges” without naming Crawford — and handing over personal information that would allow America PAC to target sympathetic voters. The group announced on X that it has awarded $1 million to Scott Ainsworth, of Green Bay, who urges people in a video to follow his lead, sign the petition and vote for Schimel. Musk earlier promised to award another $1 million to someone for signing the petition, and says he’ll give away $2 million during a talk in Wisconsin on Sunday. He originally said it would be “in appreciation for you taking the time to vote.” But as some raised concerns that would violate state law, Musk revamps the offer to say it will be for “people to be spokesmen for the petition.”

Building America’s Future: WisPolitics has tracked $8.3 million in spending by the Musk-aligned group by pulling together independent expenditure reports and data from AdImpact. The group had been regularly filing independent expenditure reports with the state, including one in mid-March that listed $3.2 million in TV buys and $4.5 million in expenses overall. But the group hasn’t filed anything since, even though it’s had a heavy presence on the airwaves. AdImpact has tracked nearly $7.2 million in overall spending by Building America’s Future on reservations, including $6 million on broadcast and cable TV. That number matches precisely the figure a media buyer source shared with WisPolitics. Since the group’s last filing with the state, its ads have focused on the sentences that Crawford has handed down while on the Dane County bench without explicitly mentioning the Supreme Court race; only efforts that advocate for or against a candidate must be reported. The spot currently on the air plays a clip of Crawford saying “voters deserve to know our records” before knocking her on sentences she’s handed out.

WisPolitics arrived at the $8.3 million figure by combining the $7.2 million that AdImpact has tracked on media reservations with the $1 million in mail the group has reported to the state.

Combined with America PAC’s spending, that’s $20.3 million in spending by Musk-aligned groups, not counting whatever the group sunk into its petition drive or the $3 million the billionaire has personally given the state GOP ahead of the party making significant transfers to Schimel’s campaign.

Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund: The group has been one of Dems’ major players in the ad wars in recent races, and it’s again playing that role this spring with $8.4 million in expenses reported to the state, largely to oppose Schimel. The group has put just shy of $4.2 million online, according to its most recent filing detailing its independent expenditures, along with almost $3.1 million on TV and $1.2 million in mail.

WMC Issues Mobilization Council: The group has a history of doing issue advocacy, meaning it doesn’t have to file disclosures with the state — and its donors remain anonymous. AdImpact has tracked $5.4 million in ad spending by the advocacy arm of the state’s largest business group with the messages entirely focused on the sentences Crawford has handed down while on the Dane County bench. The group also has a history of other outreach to voters — efforts that don’t show up anywhere and are part of those dark money expenses pushing the race well past the $102 million that WisPolitics has been able to identify.

Fair Courts America: The group has put $4.4 million into opposing Crawford, and Illinois businessman Dick Uihlein has been the only donor Fair Courts America has reported this year. Its independent expenditure filings with the state include $3.5 million on TV, $178,379 on digital, $156,611 on mail and $150,000 on “peer to peer messaging.”

A Better Wisconsin Together Inc.: Officially, the group has solely done digital issue ads over the course of the year — almost all of them hammering Schimel on issues such as abortion that have been key in the race. It also doesn’t officially report any of those expenditures. But the group told WisPolitics its spending is north of $3 million. The group is separate from A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund, which engages in express advocacy and thus has to file with the state. 

AFP-Wisconsin: Doors, digital and some mail. The conservative group began canvassing for Schimel in mid-November, barely taking a break after its efforts in the fall elections. To date, it’s reported $3.2 million in independent expenditures, including: $1.55 million on digital ads; $842,937 on mail printing, production and postage; and $734,391 for canvassing with $51,366 for door hangers.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters: Of the just more than $1 million the group reported in independent expenditures backing Crawford and opposing Schimel, $945,000 went to a payroll company. The rest of the independent expenditures it’s reported includes $29,750 for online ads, $24,902 on printing and $15,523 on postage.

ACLU of Wisconsin: The group’s IE reports carry the disclaimer “The filer does not endorse or oppose candidates. The expenditures being reported in this filing were in opposition or in support of one or more of the positions of the candidates identified on critical civil liberties issues.” Its efforts, though, were all reported to the state as supporting Crawford and opposing Schimel. That includes $672,038 on videos, $226,500 on radio and $101,200 on online ads. 

Wisconsin Neighbor Network Action Fund: Almost all of the $828,933 the group has reported spending backing Crawford has been for peer-to-peer texting, according to its filings. As of this morning, the Wisconsin Neighbor Action Fund’s spending had just clipped what another liberal group had put into the race backing Crawford. The Justice Project has reported $815,445 spent on radio, mail and a website to support Crawford.

Since 2000, the highest ask in an April election was the $1.8 billion districts placed on the ballot in April 2020, according to data previously provided to WisPolitics by the Wisconsin Policy Forum. 

The biggest request on Tuesday is a $197.8 million referendum for the Oshkosh Area School District to consolidate school buildings. 

Under the plan, the Perry Tipler and South Park Middle Schools would be closed to be replaced with a consolidated middle school at the site of the Shapiro STEM Academy elementary school. The money would also be used to fund additions at Franklin, Carl Traeger and Oakwood Elementary Schools, while Roosevelt Elementary School and Shapiro STEM Academy would be closed. 

The rest of the funding would go toward converting Perry Tipler Middle School into a pre-K center and recreation department, creating an auditorium at Oshkosh North High School and installing air conditioning at five elementary schools. 

The referendum is the second phase of a long-term plan to consolidate district facilities. The first phase included a $7.95 million annual operating referendum through the 2029-30 school year and a $107 million referendum to build a new middle and elementary school, improve safety and security, and make maintenance and infrastructure improvements. Those referendums were approved in 2020. 

The other top requests include referendums in the Racine Unified School District and Arrowhead Union High School District. 

The Racine Unified School District is seeking $190 million to pay for operational expenses, including educational programs, school safety and security and staff compensation, through the 2029-30 school year. If the referendum isn’t approved, the district says it will be left with a $24 million deficit. 

Meanwhile, Arrowhead UHS is asking voters to approve $136.2 million to consolidate the district’s buildings by adding on to the existing North Campus building and demolishing the South Campus building. The money would also be used for site and athletic facility improvements, and to acquire furnishings, fixtures and equipment. 

The proposal comes after voters narrowly rejected a $261.2 million referendum in November to build a new high school, while a separate referendum to authorize $7.6 million for operating expenses was approved. 

A group of local residents called “Arrowhead No” is challenging the latest referendum in court, arguing it does not accurately reflect the cost to taxpayers. The district has estimated the property tax impact at $8.50 per month for a $100,000 property, $25.50 per month for a $300,000 property and $42.50 per month for a $500,000 property. 

In addition to school referendums, 27 municipalities have referendums. 

The town of Newton referendum asks residents for authority to borrow $7 million and repay over the course of 20 years to build a new fire and EMS station. 

Other referendums ask residents for authority to increase the tax levy to maintain city services: several of them are specific to public safety and ask for money to hire new police officers or EMS staff. 

The city of Brookfield asks residents for authority to increase the tax levy by $6 million this year and in the following years to continue city services. And two municipalities have library referendums: the village of Cottage Grove asks for authority to increase the tax levy by $1.3 million to construct a library, and the city of Lake Mills asks for $2.5 million to renovate and make additions to its library. 

“While I have been critical of the processes for recent changes to school scoring and standards, I am nevertheless vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the Legislature’s attempts to undermine the constitutional authority and independence of the state superintendent of public instruction,” Evers wrote in his veto message. 

He also knocked the Legislature for injecting “partisan politics into setting metrics for student and school success.” 

Co-author Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, suggested the veto was hypocritical. 

“So he called lowering standards a mistake. He criticized the process used to make the changes. We put a bill on his desk to restore the standards he implemented. He vetoes it,” Jagler wrote in a post on X. “Makes perfect sense. #disappointed.”

The veto comes as state schools Superintendent Jill Underly is seeking another term in Tuesday’s election against Wauwatosa education consultant Brittany Kinser. 

Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia, who co-authored the bill in the Assembly, criticized Evers’ comments about “partisan politics.” 

“Give me a break! Who’s ‘injecting partisan politics’ now? A veto just before an election for state superintendent? This veto is a shameful attempt to claw back his own misgivings about the actions of the state superintendent,” Wittke said in a written statement. “It is hurtful for our students, families, and school districts.”

Republicans introduced the legislation after DPI modified state standards, arguing the new standards weren’t stringent enough. That included changes to terminology used to assess performance and lowering the threshold for what is considered “proficient.” 

AB 1 would reset state report card standards to levels set in 2019-20, align grades 3-8 with national standards from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and restore high school testing standards to levels set in the 2021-22 school year. It also would require DPI to bring back the previous terms for pupil performance assessments.

Evers also signed five bills into law today, including measures codifying collective bargaining agreements for state, UW-Madison and Universities of Wisconsin employees. 

The other bills signed into law are: 

• Wisconsin Act 4, allowing tribal governments to copy a certified copy of a vital record for administrative use. 
• Wisconsin Act 5, extending the electronic Prescription Drug Monitoring Program until 2030. Provisions of the program, which seeks to combat the opioid epidemic and substance abuse, were set to expire next month and in October. 

The freshman rep and Education Committee member charged the GOP-led Legislature with “systematically defunding public education,” noting increased numbers of school districts turning to referendums for funding, and efforts to expand private school vouchers. 

Cruz called herself an “unwilling participant in politics,” noting she first got involved in 2011 when former Gov. Scott Walker signed Act 10 into law, stripping most public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

She was a public school teacher at the time and union member, but became a building representative, political action committee chairperson and eventually full-time president of Racine Educators United, a role she still holds today.

On the state budget, Cruz said she believes the lifting of private school voucher income limits in the 2026-27 school year will be a “tremendous problem.” 

“I do not believe that the state Legislature has contemplated at all how they’re going to fund either the public or the private institutions once the voucher caps come off,” Cruz said. “So I think there needs to be a firm cap put back on the vouchers and eventually that that program needs to be sunset.”

Cruz said she also hopes to see an increase in the amount of per-pupil aid and special education reimbursement. She said she supports Gov. Tony Evers proposal to boost special education reimbursement from 32% to 60%, though she would like the rate to be even higher. 

“ I believe it, it needs to be at a minimum 90% reimbursement,” she said. “I know I’m at odds with, at friendly odds with, some of my colleagues about what that number is. I think we can all agree it needs to increase dramatically.” 

Listen to the full “Capitol Chats” interview here.