How three MAGA billionaires are trying to buy Wisconsin

Scott Walker and Tom Tiffany created a loophole that helped MAGA mega-donors turn this year’s races into a toss-up. If Dems win, they should close it.

You might think that, in a year when Democrats are seriously competing for U.S. Senate seats in typically-red states like Iowa, Alaska, and Texas, a purple state like Wisconsin should be a slam dunk for Democrats. Right?

Wrong.

In fact, Wisconsin—where Democrats have their first shot in a generation at winning unified control of state government—is a toss-up, from the race for governor to the contest for state legislative majorities.

In the latest public poll, David Crowley has a three-point advantage—within the margin of error, and narrower than the previous poll. The GOP has a 4:1 cash-on-hand advantage going into the final sprint and has been running more than twice as many ads as Democrats.

There are many reasons Wisconsin elections are so much closer than those in other states so often. But one of them is a state law passed in 2015—voted for by Tom Tiffany and signed by then-Governor Scott Walker—that allows unlimited donations to state parties, which can then donate unlimited amounts to state candidates. In Wisconsin, we call it the Scott Walker Loophole. It has turned into Tom Tiffany’s golden ticket.

To understand why the loophole matters, you have to know a quirk of federal campaign finance law: when candidates buy broadcast ads close to an election, they pay far lower prices than the prices paid by outside groups like Super PACs.

When Citizens United opened the door to unlimited donations to Super PACs and unlimited spending to help candidates, it opened the floodgates for giant ad campaigns sponsored by mega-donors—but because Super PACs don’t get the “candidate rate,” they often pay three or four times as much per ad. This year, the GOP has a huge advantage in Super PAC spending, but Democratic U.S. Senate candidates are raising much more in individual contributions—and money given to candidates goes much further. That’s why, despite Republicans’ huge overall financial advantage, Democrats are running almost as many ads, helping them hold their own in tough Senate races in red states.

Check out this chart: the darker-shaded part of each bar represents ads bought by candidates. The lighter-shade part represents ads from “issue groups.” As you can see, the GOP is far more reliant than Democrats on ads paid for by mega-donors via independent groups.

But in Wisconsin, it’s different.

Because of the Scott Walker loophole, the state parties can receive unlimited contributions and make unlimited donations to state candidates. And then the candidates can then use the low candidate rates.

This is a strategy Dems have used to counter GOP Super PAC funding, including when Dems helped beat Elon Musk in 2025. But in this fall’s race for Governor and the state legislative majorities, the GOP is using it at an unprecedented level.

Between August 10 and September 23, two GOP multibillionaire families gave $27.6 million to the state GOP, which transferred $24 million to Tom Tiffany. That transfer accounted for 92% of the total amount Tiffany raised during the period.

One family, Dick and Liz Uihlein, were the biggest funders of the groups that organized the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal protest. They donated $22 million to the WI GOP in this period. In other words, more than 3/4 of Tiffany’s total campaign receipts. That’s far beyond the role played by any Democratic donor in any Wisconsin campaign this century (which is as far back as I’ve looked).

Tom Tiffany, meanwhile, was part of the Jan. 6 effort to reject legitimate electoral college votes. Which might explain why Trump endorsed him, clearing the gubernatorial primary.

Those funds allowed Tiffany to run twice as many ads as the Democratic nominee, David Crowley, during that period—with a ton of money to spare. Tiffany had a 4:1 cash-on-hand advantage over Crowley going into the final stretch of the campaign.

And that’s just the latest infusion of money. The Uihleins and their fellow donor Diane Hendricks have funded Wisconsin Republican Party committees to the tune of $66 million over the last calendar year.

Yes, the so-called Scott Walker Loophole has been used by both parties. But there’s a difference: Democrats have been using it in order to win enough power to close it and reduce the rule of money in politics. This year is their first shot at a trifecta since the law was passed. Whereas the GOP has been resolute about keeping it open, even when they were being outspent.

Now we see why.

Help David Crowley beat Tom Tiffany. Help Dems win the state legislative majorities.

And then let’s close the Scott Walker Loophole.