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Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign spending smashed previous records by more than 75%, with more than $164 million spent in a contest that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers won in a battleground state. it was done. in state elections reported on Tuesday.
The total amount spent on the race, a national priority for both Republicans and Democrats, hit a record high of $93 million, set when Evers won his first victory in 2018, according to the Wisconsin Democratic Campaign. This was double the amount spent in the 2014 race.
Evers defeated Republican Tim Michels, who owns the state’s largest construction company, to allow Democrats to check a Republican-controlled Congress. The campaign received national attention due to Wisconsin’s role as a swing state in the presidential race. Evers has vetoed more bills than any governor in the state’s history and has blocked Republicans on many fronts, including efforts to make absentee voting more difficult.
Evers and the special interests that backed him spent nearly $88 million, while Michels, other Republican candidates in the primary, and the groups that backed them spent nearly $76 million. For the candidates themselves, Michels spent about $28.5 million, while Evers spent about $42 million.
The biggest spenders in the campaign were the Democratic Governors Association through an ad group on the issue called the Alliance for Common Sense. The campaign cost him nearly $27 million, according to a Democracy Campaign report. The group’s advertisements mostly attacked Michelle on various issues, including his positions on abortion and education.
The second largest spender was the Republican Governors Association, which used three different organizations to put more than $15 million into the campaign. That ad largely attacked Evers as vulnerable to crime.
Fourteen groups each spent over $1.7 million on the race.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 4 is also expected to cost a fortune in the campaign to determine whether control of the court will shift from conservative to liberal. Courts are Wisconsin’s last word, and Evers and Congress are often at odds. Everything from abortion rights to his election law for the 2024 presidential election could be at play, with hopes of spending as much or more than his legal battle record so far. It is rising.
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