Outside Groups Top $1 Million in De Pere's 88th as Legislative Control Hinges on a Few Seats

Outside groups have spent more than $1 million on Wisconsin's 88th Assembly District, the De Pere-area seat Republican Rep. Ben Franklin won by less than a point in 2024. That's the third-highest independent spending total of any Assembly race in the state, behind only the 61st and 92nd districts, according to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign tally of independent expenditures current as of Oct. 30.

The same tally shows $775,118 in outside spending in the neighboring 89th District, the Ashwaubenon and west Green Bay seat Democrat Ryan Spaude flipped in 2024, and $314,222 in the open 53rd District around Neenah. Statewide, independent spending reached $95.7 million, with $78.9 million of it in the governor's race.

Those seats sit near the center of the fight for the Legislature on Tuesday. Republicans hold a 54-45 Assembly majority and an 18-15 Senate majority under the maps Gov. Tony Evers signed in 2024, Wisconsin Watch reported. Democrats need to hold their own seats and flip at least five Republican seats to win the Assembly. In the Senate, they need two of three Republican-held seats, the 5th, 17th and 21st, while holding the 31st in Eau Claire.

Democrats Raise More, Republicans Spend More

The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee raised about $5.1 million from July 1 through Oct. 19, while the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee raised about $281,000, according to WPR's review of the fall pre-election reports. The Republican committee started July with more than $11 million in the bank and spent about $7 million in the period. The Democratic committee spent about $6.3 million.

The Senate committees followed the same pattern. Senate Democrats raised about $1.4 million, nearly six times the roughly $242,000 raised by the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate. The Republican committee, which entered July with about $5 million, spent more than $3.4 million, almost double the Democrats' $1.8 million. Wisconsin Watch found Republican committees outspending Democrats by more than $5 million in the Assembly and more than $2.5 million in the Senate in the final month.

The Republican cushion came mostly from two people. Earlier reports showed $9.5 million to the Assembly committee and $6.75 million to the Senate committee from conservative billionaires Diane Hendricks and Liz Uihlein, WPR reported. On the Democratic side, the Assembly committee's largest earlier gifts included about $3.5 million from relatives of the late investor Charlie Munger and $2.5 million from philanthropist Sarah O'Neil.

Where the Money Lands in De Pere and Neenah

Much of the Republican committee's money reaches candidates as in-kind media buys and mail rather than cash. From July 1 to Sept. 23, the committee spent $627,340.60 on in-kind support for Franklin and $617,898.60 for David Daniels, the Republican running for the open 53rd seat, according to WPR. In that same period, Hendricks, the ABC Supply founder, gave $5.5 million of the roughly $6.2 million the committee raised.

Candidate totals through Sept. 23, compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, show how much that in-kind help shapes the local races. The group's figures include in-kind contributions, which the state Ethics Commission stopped counting in its own totals in July 2025.

• 88th District: Franklin raised $739,355. Democrat Brandy Tollefson, a De Pere School Board treasurer, raised $498,452.
• 89th District: Republican challenger Bobby Lindsey raised $639,463. Spaude raised $519,194.
• 53rd District: Daniels raised $702,241. Democrat Becky Nichols raised $463,078, and independent Rachael Dowling raised $1,753.

Fox Watershed covered the candidates' policy differences in the 88th District and the 89th District earlier this month.

Tollefson vs. Franklin: Where the 88th Candidates Stand

Brandy Tollefson and Rep. Ben Franklin on schools, health care, costs, GBCI and voting in Wisconsin's closest 2024 Assembly district.

Fox Watershedhttps://www.facebook.com/emrouse02

No Limit Through the Party

Big donors can reach candidates without hitting contribution limits by giving to the state parties. Wisconsin's 2015 Act 117 removed caps on what individuals can give to political parties, and parties can pass unlimited sums to candidates, Civic Media reported. Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein gave the Republican Party of Wisconsin a combined $22 million between July 28 and Sept. 23, and Hendricks gave about $5.6 million, according to Civic Media.

The party's own fall pre-election report lists another $13 million from Hendricks on Sept. 30. Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 8, the party moved $9 million in cash to Republican Tom Tiffany's campaign for governor.

Democrats use the same channel on a smaller scale. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Lynde Uihlein each gave $1 million to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in the July 28 to Sept. 23 window, Lynn Schusterman gave $990,000, and Evers' campaign sent about $565,000, according to Civic Media. Nick Ramos, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, asked what the point of contribution limits is "if somebody can simply route their money through the political party."

The Quieter Races

Some Northeast Wisconsin seats have drawn little money. In the Fox Cities' 19th Senate District, Republican Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara raised $201,706 through Sept. 23 to Democrat Emily Tseffos's $96,157, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's Senate figures. The 19th doesn't appear on the group's outside-spending list.

In the open 1st Senate District, Republican Nic Cravillion raised $145,857 and independent Mark Becker raised $48,055, with no Democrat on the ballot. Outside groups have spent $120,798 there. For comparison, the most expensive Senate race, the 17th in southwestern Wisconsin, has drawn more than $5 million between the two candidates and $1.76 million in outside spending.