MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Republican legislators’ fundraising committees raised nearly twice as much cash as their Democratic counterparts during the first half of the year, according to a report a government watchdog group released Monday.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign’s analysis found that the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee and the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate raised a combined $1.32 million. The two committees had a combined $3.62 million on hand as of June 30.
The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and the State Senate Democratic Committee raised $951,000. The committees had a combined $929,300 in the bank.
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GOP fundraising was driven largely by three individual donors’ contributions to the Republican Assembly committee, the report found. Elizabeth Uihlein of Lake Forest, Illinois, co-founder of Uline Corp., donated $600,000. John Shaffer of Chicago, chairman of HAS Commercial Real Estate, donated $100,000. Diane Hendricks of Beloit, owner of ABC Supply, donated $25,000.
Shaffer was also the top donor to the GOP Senate committee, contributing $100,000.
The four committees raised a combined total of $2.76 million, a new record. They accounted for nearly 40% o the record $7.1 million in total legislative fundraising over the first six months of 2020.
The four committees have set successive fundraising and cash-on-hand records for the first half of the year in 2016, 2018 and 2020.
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