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Wisconsin politicians denounce the "billionaire loophole" that makes state elections so expensive, but they're still raising tons of cash. | Getty Images
Two high-profile candidates for governor of Wisconsin, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Democratic former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, have denounced the unlimited flow of cash into state political campaigns. Then, practically in the same breath, both men announced their plans to raise tens of millions of dollars, signalling to their less well funded primary opponents that they might as well get out of the way.
In an interview with PBS Wisconsin on Dec. 5, Tiffany criticized “that pass-through loophole, I call it the ‘billionaire loophole,’” in Wisconsin law, adding, “there’s just so much money that comes into Wisconsin.”
“You can cry about it or you can compete,” Tiffany continued. “We choose to compete … We’re hoping to raise $40 million.”
As Baylor Spears reports, Tiffany actually voted for the “billionaire loophole” he now criticizes back when he was serving in the state Senate in 2015.
Mandela Barnes, in a recent campaign stop in Madison, told Spears and other reporters that he has raised a “strong haul,” in the first week of his campaign, and that he intends to raise a staggering $50 million by the end of the race. He added that he doesn’t like the role of money in politics. “It’s not a good sign,” he said, and his future goal is “to get big money out of politics” and enact “campaign and ethics reform.”
Back in 2015, when Republicans were ramming through the “billionaire loophole,” Barnes opposed it, saying at the time that it would allow “shady special interest money and allow for more corruption to go undetected and unprosecuted.”
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, remembers that moment well. Under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Republican legislative majorities passed the law eviscerating campaign finance limits along with other measures getting rid of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board and eliminating the John Doe procedure that was used to criminally prosecute leaders of both political parties for campaign finance crimes in the infamous caucus scandal of the early 2000’s.
The 2015 law doubled the amount individuals could give to candidates. More importantly, it eliminated all limits on state party contributions to candidates and allowed coordination between candidates and outside groups that make issue ads supporting the campaigns. Donors were able to give as much as they wanted to political parties, which then funneled that money to candidates, creating the billionaire loophole to which Tiffany belatedly objects. The 2015 law cleared the way for outsiders like Elon Musk to pour limitless cash into state races to try to affect the outcome.
“The Republicans did that in 2015 because they were convinced that they would have a great financial advantage since they generally raised more money from donors and special interests,” says Heck. “Of course, what they didn’t anticipate was [former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair] Ben Wikler and the Democratic Party’s ability to take that big hole in the law and use it to raise massive amounts of money.”
Recently, Democrats in Wisconsin have been beating Republicans in the fundraising arms race. In 2025, in the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history, Susan Crawford, the candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court supported by the Democratic Party, raised $28.3 million compared with Republican-supported Brad Schimel, who raised $15.1 million. Outside special interests accounted for most of the spending on the race, with Musk alone putting in nearly $20 million through his political action committees and millions more laundered through the state Republican Party for Schimel, while the Democratic Party of Wisconsin funneled $10 million to Crawford.
The lesson of the 2015 law, says Heck, is, “be careful what you wish for.”
That certainly applies to Republicans, who lost the two most expensive state Supreme Court races in history as well as the last two record-breaking gubernatorial races won by Gov. Tony Evers with $93 million in total spending in 2018 and $164 million in 2022.
But it also applies to Democrats, who cannot count on continually bringing in more money than Republicans.
More importantly, when it costs tens of millions of dollars to win state elections, regular voters’ voices are drowned out by billionaires, who are not investing in candidates just out of the goodness of their hearts.
Heck believes that change will only come when voters demand reform, most likely because a big scandal clearly illustrates that politicians are doing favors for their donors in exchange for campaign cash.
“It’s going to require a bipartisan coming-together to establish some limits,” Heck says.
Even as the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the floodgate for campaign spending with the Citizens United decision, which in 2010 struck down a federal ban on political donations from corporations, and McCutcheon v. FEC, which in 2014 found that annual caps on total political donations from one person are unconstitutional, states have the ability to impose limits.
A report by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows Wisconsin is one of only 11 states that allow unlimited candidate contributions by state parties and among the top 10 for the highest limits on PAC contributions to candidates. Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and most other states limit how much political parties can accept, which reduces the Elon Musk effect. Plus, “We are one of few states that allows so-called coordination between political candidates and outside groups,” Heck says.
The problem is that candidates, while acknowledging that massive amounts of money fueling their campaigns is a bad look, don’t want to unilaterally disarm.
But now, as the Trump administration drags the country to new levels of overt corruption, it could be a good time for a campaign that ties together billionaires’ destructive influence on society and the fact that they are buying our democracy.
“There has to be public disgust with the amount of money being spent,” says Heck. “If a candidate put corruption front and center, it might get a lot of traction.”
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“Costs, like everything else, are out of control, and coming from a family that had to make every dollar count, I know what that feels like,” Joel Brennan said in his launch video. (Screenshot from campaign video)
Joel Brennan, formerly the Department of Administration (DOA) secretary under Gov. Tony Evers, announced his campaign for governor Thursday, saying that President Donald Trump’s “chaos and incompetence” are hurting the state and that “the numbers just aren’t adding up for Wisconsin families.”
“Costs, like everything else, are out of control, and coming from a family that had to make every dollar count, I know what that feels like,” Brennan said in his launch video. “I’ll be a governor who will stand up to Trump’s dysfunction and be laser focused on improving the lives of people across our state.”
In the video, Brennan introduces himself, saying many voters “probably don’t know much about me.” He talks about growing up as one of 11 children in a family that was “long on potential, although sometimes a little short on resources.” He relates that he worked in many jobs including landscaping, retail and deep frying egg rolls to help put himself through college and that his first car had no working blinkers.
“I’ve raised two great kids with my wife, Audra, passing on lessons like rolling up our sleeves to get things done and showing up for our community, and for 25 years I’ve worked with businesses and non-profits to create jobs and strengthen Wisconsin’s economy.”
Brennan served as the DOA secretary from 2019 through 2021. The agency is responsible for assisting the governor with the state budget, providing centralized purchasing and financial management for state agencies and working with the 11 federally recognized Native Nations in Wisconsin on gaming and coastal programs.
“It’s easy to forget how broken things were after [former Gov.] Scott Walker and his right-wing Legislature had spent eight years gutting state government,” Brennan said. “We got to work putting the state on firmer financial footing, generating a budget surplus of nearly $4 billion dollars and growing our rainy day fund to $1.7 billion, then COVID hit and all of that progress was put at risk. We stood up to the extremists and delivered help to tens of thousands of small businesses, farmers, and families across Wisconsin.”
Prior to his time in Evers’ administration, Brennan worked as the executive director of Discovery World, the largest science museum in Wisconsin.
Brennan stepped down from leading the DOA in December 2021 to serve as the president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC). The private-sector, nonprofit civic organization works to foster economic development and cultural growth in Wisconsin’s largest metro area.
According to the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Brennan is stepping aside from the role as he runs for governor.
Brennan joins a crowded field of hopefuls seeking the Democratic nomination next year. Candidates include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Milwaukee County Exec. David Crowley, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey. The primary is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026.
Roys criticized Brennan in a statement after his announcement over a position the GMC took on a Milwaukee Public Schools referendum last year, saying that Wisconsin needs “a leader who knows how to deliver higher wages, lower costs and the freedom to thrive.”
“While I look forward to a spirited primary, I will not be able to overlook the fact that only one of the candidates in this race tried to defeat a desperately needed referendum to fund our biggest school district,” Roys said.
The GMC, under Brennan’s leadership, was one of the city’s business organizations that opposed the $252 million operational referendum successfully sought by Milwaukee Public Schools in 2024. GMC expressed concerns at the time over transparency and the “failure to clearly articulate a measurable plan for how these additional financial resources will improve student outcomes.”
The Republican field for governor is not as expansive with just two candidates: U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the frontrunner in the race, and Washington Co. Executive Josh Schoemann.
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U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany has said his campaign is aiming to raise $40 million for the 2026 gubernatorial race. Tiffany delivers a speech at his launch event in Wausau in September. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the current frontrunner in the GOP gubernatorial primary, criticized the “billionaire loophole” that has led to record spending in statewide races in Wisconsin, even though he voted for the legislation that helped expand spending in 2015.
Tiffany has said his campaign is aiming to raise $40 million for the 2026 gubernatorial race. “We’ll see if we get there,” Tiffany said in an interview with PBS Wisconsin last week. “But, you know, Wisconsin, because of that pass-through loophole, I call it the billionaire loophole, there’s just so much money that comes into Wisconsin. But, you know, you can cry about it or you can compete. We choose to compete… We’re hoping to raise $40 million.”
Spending on Wisconsin statewide elections has grown substantially over the last decade in part because of an overhaul of the state’s campaign finance laws adopted in 2015 under the leadership of former Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature.
Republican lawmakers at the time argued that the changes to the campaign finance laws were necessary to align state law with U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including Citizens United v. FEC, which in 2010 struck down a nationwide ban on political donations from corporations, and McCutcheon v. FEC, which in 2014 found that annual caps on total political donations from one person are unconstitutional.
Under 2015 Wisconsin Act 117, Wisconsin lawmakers eliminated a state law that capped individual donations to all candidates and political committees in a single year at $10,000. Limits on contributions for each state and local office were increased and limits on contributions to party and legislative campaign committees were eliminated, creating a loophole that allowed unlimited money to flow through parties and committees into individual campaigns. The law eliminated restrictions on coordination between political parties and candidates and allowed for political parties and legislative campaign committees to make unlimited contributions to candidate committees.
The state law has become a topic of conversation again as the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case Tuesday challenging a federal law limiting the amount of money that political parties can spend in coordination with a candidate for office.
Tiffany has represented Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District since 2020, but prior to that he served in the state Senate. As a state senator, Tiffany voted for AB 387, which later became Act 117, along with the other Senate Republicans. Only one Republican, former state Sen. Rob Cowles, voted against the measure.
Tiffany’s campaign has not responded to a request for comment about the vote and whether he wants to see changes to state campaign finance law.
At the time, advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers warned the legislation would lead to obscene spending in Wisconsin elections. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign warned in written testimony that the legislation would mean “billionaires and multimillionaires will have an outsized influence over who gets elected” and that political contests would “be less between candidates and more between tycoons.”
Spending in governors’ races was already growing following the U.S. Supreme Court decision and before the state law was adopted. In 2010, $37.37 million was spent on the governor’s race; in 2014, spending increased to $81.78 million. The increase in spending ballooned dramatically after the passage of the 2015 law.
A record-breaking $164 million was spent in 2022 on Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race. According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the cost represented a 77% increase from the previous $93.06 million record that was set in the 2018 governor’s race.
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mandela Barnes, who served in the Assembly in 2015, did not vote on the campaign spending bill, joining the rest of his Democratic Assembly colleagues who said it was a conflict of interest for lawmakers to rewrite the laws that govern their campaigns. He is the only Democratic candidate in the current crowded primary field who was in the Legislature at the time.
Barnes said in a press release in 2015 that he opposed the bill because Republicans rejected an amendment that would have delayed implementation until after the 2016 election cycle. He said Republicans “acted in blatant self-interest for their campaign committees by voting down my effort,” so he “recused myself from voting on ultimate passage of this outrageous proposal.”
Barnes also said then that with the legislation Republicans had “fully embraced the darkness of corruption by voting to rig the rules to line their own campaign pockets with shady special interest money and allow for more corruption to go undetected and unprosecuted.”
Barnes, a former lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate, recently said he is aiming to raise $50 million over the course of the race, but at the same time criticized the escalation in campaign spending.
“It’s not a good sign for things. I wish that were not the case,” Barnes told reporters Monday. “The goal is to get big money out of politics. The goal is for campaign and ethics reform… We should be taking more steps to reduce the impact of money in politics.”
Other Democratic candidates include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee Co. Exec. David Crowley, state Sen. Kelda Roys, state Rep. Francesca Hong, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey.
Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann is the only other Republican candidate currently in the race.
Barnes and Tiffany have not had to file campaign finance reports yet as they entered after the last deadline. Candidates’ next campaign finance filing deadline is Jan. 15, 2026. Those reports will cover July 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2025.
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Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mandela Barnes spoke with bike shop owner Mitch Pilon about rising costs under President Donald Trump and the effects of tariffs. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Even with a crowded Democratic primary field, gubernatorial hopeful Mandela Barnes told reporters Monday that he is focusing his efforts on the Republican candidate he might face in November 2026 and he has raised a “strong haul” in the first week of his campaign.
Barnes, a former lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate, visited Black Saddle Bike Shop (where he said he’s often had his bike serviced) on the North Side of Madison. The stop was part of Barnes’ “Wisconsin Way” tour, launched last week after he announced his campaign. He has joined a field of candidates in the Democratic primary that includes Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Missy Hughes, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey.
Barnes said his fundraising so far is “something that’ll make my mom proud,” though he wouldn’t expand on how much money he has raised. He said his goal will be to raise $50 million in the race overall, though he also criticized the need to raise so much.
Barnes noted that during Gov. Tony Evers’ successful second bid for the office, Evers spent around $42 million to defeat Republican businessman Tim Michels, who spent $28.48 million. A record-breaking $164 million was spent in 2022 on Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race.
“It’s not a good sign for things. I wish that were not the case. The goal is to get big money out of politics. The goal is for campaign and ethics reform,” Barnes said, adding that reform is needed at both the state and federal levels. “We should be taking more steps to reduce the impact of money in politics,” he said.
Barnes said the first week of the campaign has been exciting, and he has been trying to talk to as many people as possible. He spoke with bike shop owner Mitch Pilon about rising costs under President Donald Trump and the effects of tariffs.
“With an absence of support from the federal government, even if the state doesn’t have all the resources to make it better, at least staving off some of the worst from happening, I fully believe that’s a responsibility of state government,” he told Pilon, adding that he wants to help “tip the scales back into the favor of working people.”
Pilon, who opened the shop in February 2020, said making ends meet has been a challenge for him and his partner, who is a social worker.
“In Wisconsin, after 10 years, your student loans should be absolved, which they’re not going to be now, and she has a master’s degree… that’s $100,000 in debt at social worker’s compensation,” Pilon said. The Trump administration has sought to upend student loan forgiveness programs this year. “I own a small business. I work really hard… we can’t afford a house.”
“[Trump] promised to lower costs for people,” Barnes told reporters after the conversation. “He said he was going to bring back manufacturing to this country, specifically to this state. It hasn’t happened. As people continue to feel the pinch, tough decisions are being made.”
Barnes said he got into the race because of the urgency of those sorts of challenges.
“It’s a critical moment that calls for leadership. It calls for boldness, to not just take on the president, but to also offer real solutions for the problems that people are facing,” Barnes said. “So this is one of many small businesses that we’ll be showing up to… over the course of this campaign.”
Pilon also asked Barnes about one of the obstacles that his campaign will need to overcome — his failed challenge to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in 2022. Barnes has faced pushback to his campaign due to that loss.
“We lost the Senate race…” Pilon said. “How do you get over that? How do you rise above that?”
Barnes responded that he didn’t get into the race for “personal reasons.”
“I got into it because there was work that needed to be done,” Barnes said. “I don’t feel like the job is being done and, alright, that’s a wakeup call to go out there and raise my hand and do the job.”
“How do you change people’s minds?” Pilon asked.
“A lot of it is personal stories and experience,” Barnes said.
It has been rare for candidates in Wisconsin to succeed in winning a statewide race after an earlier loss. Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School poll, found in an analysis of previous governor and U.S. Senate election results that the last time a candidate won one of those statewide campaigns after losing a previous one was in the 1970s. Examples of failed second chances include Tom Barrett, who lost bids for governor in 2010 and 2012, Tim Michels, who lost to Evers in 2022 after he lost a bid for the Senate in 2004, and Russ Feingold, who lost Senate races in 2010 and 2016.
Barnes is undeterred by the precedent.
“There’s a lot of history that would suggest I wouldn’t ever become lieutenant governor,” Barnes said in answer to a question about Franklin’s second-change analysis. “There’s also, you know, in terms of historical precedent, I don’t know that there is a precedent that suggests anybody on the Democratic or Republican side has a better chance of winning.”
Barnes ran for the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination in 2018 in a two-person race, going on to win on the same ticket as Gov. Tony Evers. He was elected and served as the state’s youngest and first Black lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023.
Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race next year is wide open for the first time since 2010.
During the 2022 Senate race, Barnes became the Democratic nominee after other high-profile candidates dropped out weeks before the primary.
Barnes denied he helped push the other Democrats out of the race then. He also said primaries are good for democracy when asked whether he wants other candidates to coalesce around him.
“I think it should be a battle of ideas, whether it’s a large primary or not, but would never that’s never been my style to try to get anybody out of any race,” Barnes said. “As you know, from the way I got in, I showed up by challenging someone in a primary election, so it’d be very hypocritical of me to suggest anybody get out.”
Barnes previously served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for two terms from 2013 to 2017. He gave up his seat in the state Assembly in 2016 to challenge former State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee). He lost the primary by more than 11,000 votes.
Barnes said his campaign will be focused not just on unifying Democrats but on a “unifying message to defeat extremists and extremism.”
“It does not matter what your favorite ideology might be, there’s a place for you in this campaign because it is about improving quality of life for everybody,” Barnes said.
With about 10 months until the primary, Barnes said he’ll be focused on the Republican candidates in the race. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is the presumed frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
“This is about pointing out flaws and failures, and Tom Tiffany as he stands as the front runner, his failures and leadership, his decisions to go lock-step with the president who has made things worse for Wisconsin,” Barnes said. “Tom Tiffany didn’t go to Washington to make things better for us, and we shouldn’t expect him to improve things for us as governor.”
The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026.
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Neubauer said in an interview that Republicans have continued to “ignore” the core challenges facing Wisconsinites, which for the most part center on costs. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)
Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) told the Wisconsin Examiner in a year-end interview that Democrats have spent the past year preparing to lead and she is optimistic about the chances for flipping the Assembly. Neubauer reflected on the current session and previewed what’s ahead.
This session has been different from previous ones, said Neubauer, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 2018 and has led Assembly Democrats since 2022.
“Closer numbers in the state Assembly and state Senate have yielded some more bipartisan work,” Neubauer said. Republicans hold a 54 to 45 majority in the Assembly, and a 18 to 15 majority in the state Senate.
She felt the difference this year from her first seven years in the body, she said, when Democrats were “in a position where we really were on defense and having to spend a huge amount of time just trying to prevent the worst policy ideas from going through.”
That work across the aisle, she said, was evident in the state budget, when Senate Democrats had a seat at the negotiating table and were able to secure more money for public schools. She also sees a difference in some of the housing bills that recently passed the Legislature. Neubauer said that Assembly task forces focused on children’s social media use and elder care also allowed for discussion across the aisle and she is hopeful they will yield some bipartisan legislation.
Still, she said, the session hasn’t yielded everything she had hoped for.
“We have not seen the kind of movement that I would have hoped, especially given that we’re all up for election next year, and everyone’s going to have to go home and answer to their constituents for what was and was not accomplished.”
Neubauer said Republicans have continued to “ignore” the core challenges facing Wisconsinites, which for the most part center on costs.
“That’s what we hear over and over from the people that we represent,” Neubauer said, noting several issues where Democratic lawmakers have introduced proposals or advocated for action. “There’s been no interest from our Republican colleagues on addressing the cost of prescription drugs and health care, especially in light of the [Affordable Care Act] premiums going up in a significant way. We have had a bill out for the entire session on Healthy School Meals. This would save the average family with two kids $1,800 a year. People would really appreciate that money right now, especially going into the holiday season, but we’ve had no interest from our Republican colleagues in addressing that issue…. and we do need to see more movement on housing and on child care.”
Neubauer also noted that a bill to extend postpartum Medicaid remains stuck in the state Assembly due to opposition from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester). Democratic lawmakers tried to force a vote on the issue during their last scheduled floor session this year, but failed.
Neubauer said she still hopes that measure could advance next year in the time remaining in the session.
“We know that people across the state believe that new moms should have access to health care. It’s essential for mom and baby… You do have to ask why [Rep.] Pat Snyder and [Rep.] Jessie Rodriguez, authors on that bill, are not able to get it done when they are governing,” Neubauer said. “They’re in the majority, and they have been for a long time.”
Despite the gridlock on certain issues, Neubauer said Democratic lawmakers have been able to think differently this year.
“We are able to think about what bills are we going to pass when we’re governing. How can we work across the aisle and use our numbers to get things done and put pressure on Republicans to make the bills better if they need our support,” Neubauer said. “I do think that we are preparing to govern in that way, and we’re really working over the next several months to get more input from our constituents on the things that are important to them to make sure that our agenda and our plan for the first hundred days is really tuned to the particular challenges that people are facing.”
Democratic lawmakers have spent the session introducing and advocating for bills on a number of issues including K-12 education, higher education, local government and elections. Most haven’t advanced or received a public hearing, but they are laying the groundwork for the future.
“The bills that we’ve rolled out this fall would be things we would absolutely do when we come into the majority,” Neubauer said. “We also know there are some pretty essential rights and freedoms that we would want, things like enshrining access to abortion in state law, in case there are further court cases that would put that at risk.”
Neubauer said Democratic lawmakers will have additional bills coming out in the next few weeks and in 2026, addressing public safety, housing and health care. She declined to provide details on what those proposals might do.
Neubauer said her caucus will continue to push for additional education funding in the fall, including general aid. This year the state budget included additional funding for special education, but Republican lawmakers refused to provide an increase in general aid — something that public school leaders and advocates have said will strain their budgets and put pressure on property taxpayers.
“We have failed to adequately fund our local public schools and what we see from Republicans is [a plan to] consolidate districts and close local schools. No one’s asking us for that,” Neubauer said. “They’re asking us to maintain that essential funding that will allow their kids to attend a grade school where they get a good reading and math education, they’re safe, and they’re prepared for their future career.”
Neubauer also commented on a handful of other issues that the Legislature is grappling with.
Neubauer, who confirmed she will be running for another term in the Assembly, said she is optimistic about Democrats’ chances of winning the Assembly majority next year. The 2026 elections will serve as Assembly Democrats’ second opportunity under new legislative maps adopted in 2024 to try to flip the chamber for the first time in 16 years.
In 2024, Democrats won 10 additional seats. For Democrats to win control in 2026, they’ll need to hold all of their current seats and win five more.
The seats that they’ll be competing for are very close, Neubauer said, including some that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, even as she lost the state as a whole.
“There are people who like the vision that we’re putting forward in these districts, so the path is there. We are recruiting great candidates who are very connected to their local community and who are ready to go out and speak directly to the voters of their district from now until election day,” Neubauer said. “That’s how we win. We win by talking about the failures of Republicans and pointing out that they have been in control here for coming up on 15 years, and they have really failed to provide the essential services that people deserve.”
Neubauer said it helps that Democrats have fewer seats that they need to flip in 2026, so they’ll be able to better focus on tough districts.
Neubauer said Democrats have candidates from a diverse array of backgrounds including teachers, coaches, small business owners, farmers, public safety employees and union members, who she said are representative of the state.
“We know that people want to see folks in office that remind them of themselves and of their neighbors and who understand the challenges that they’re going through. We’ve got folks running who get what it’s like to be looking at the budget and worried about how they’re going to make it to the next month or how they’re going to afford those Christmas gifts or special meals for the holidays,” she said.
She said to look out for more candidate announcements early next year.
Neubauer also said the election results from across the country bode well for Democrats in Wisconsin. She said the results in New Jersey and Virginia were a “really strong overperformance for Democrats.” She said it’s a sign that people are unhappy with Republican leadership and the direction of the country.
“[President] Donald Trump said that he was going to focus on the economy and making life a little easier for folks, and he has engaged in reckless trade wars, and taking other steps that have made it harder for people to get by — not easier,” Neubauer said. She also said it is “shocking” that Trump would “completely fail” to recognize how cutting SNAP funding would hurt people, and said his comments about running for a third term are “unsettling” and it is “incumbent on all of us who believe in democracy and who believe in fair elections” to push back.
“I think you’re seeing the effects of that on people across the country. Not only the federal Republicans, but their state level Republicans are just not following through on the promises that they made so I think people are looking for something different and that gives us an opportunity here.”
Wisconsinites will also make a choice next year in a high-profile open race for governor, and Neubauer said she’ll do everything she can to elect a Democratic governor.
“I am looking for someone who understands the necessity of winning in Wisconsin next year and is focused on communicating with the people of this state a vision for how life would be better with Democrats running the state Capitol,” Neubauer said. “It’s really important that we put out a vision, and that we connect directly with the people of Wisconsin and push through the frustration that folks have with politics right now by being really clear about what we’ll do and then winning and then getting those things done.”
Neubauer said she is happy with the field of Democrats running for governor, especially given how many have legislative experience, but won’t be making an endorsement. She noted that Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore all spent time serving in the Wisconsin Legislature.
Two current lawmakers, state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), and state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), are running along with former lawmakers Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee Co. Executive David Crowley and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
“We’re excited that so many folks understand what it’s like to be a legislator and who will work well, I think, with our caucus in a governing trifecta,” Neubauer said.
Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes, another Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, has no legislative experience.
In the event a Republican wins, Neubauer said Democrats in the Legislature will “work with them to the best of our ability to deliver.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is considered the frontrunner in the primary race, and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, are the current Republican hopefuls.
“We show up every day remembering that our constituents sent us here to get things done and that has to be our first priority, so we will work with anybody who wants to work with us and that would include a Republican governor if that’s the situation that we’re in,” Neubauer said. “People are struggling, and it is our responsibility to respond to that and to do what we can to help.”
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Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in his launch video for his 2026 gubernatorial campaign. | Photo courtesy Mandela Barnes for Wisconsin campaign
Former Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate Mandela Barnes launched his campaign for governor on Tuesday — pledging to stand up to the Trump administration and work to make Wisconsin more affordable.
The 2026 gubernatorial election is the first open race for governor since 2010 and Barnes joins a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls. Some of those candidates include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), Milwaukee County Exec. David Crowley and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes.
There are about 10 months until the August primary.
In his announcement video, Barnes accuses President Donald Trump and the federal government of looking the other way as working people struggle to keep up with costs. He says the state needs to reject the “Washington Way” and get things done the “Wisconsin Way.”
The video kicks off with Barnes highlighting his family ties to unions, grabbing a jacket with the insignia of UAW, Local 1866, which is the Oak Creek chapter of the United Auto Workers union. He says it belongs to his dad who “wore it everywhere because being part of a union wasn’t just a job.” In the video, construction workers walk behind Barnes while he speaks.
“It meant you looked out for each other. It meant you had each other’s backs,” Barnes continues, adding that union jobs helped people afford a home, support their families and save for retirement. “That’s not the case anymore. Seems like the harder you work, the more Washington looks the other way. Lower taxes for billionaires, higher prices for working people.”
“Under Trump, the name of the game has been distraction and chaos to avoid accountability,” Barnes says. “It’s not about the real world. It’s a show. Outrage. Performances. Everybody trying to go viral. Meanwhile, families doing everything right are still falling behind.”
Barnes also announced Tuesday that he plans to kick off his campaign with a tour across the state, with stops in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay this week. He said he plans to meet voters to hear about their concerns about rising costs and to share his vision to improve affordability. According to a press release from his campaign, Barnes as governor would seek to expand BadgerCare — Wisconsin’s Medicaid program — and “close tax loopholes for the ultra-rich so we can cut taxes for middle-class families.”
“It isn’t about left or right. It’s not about who can yell the loudest,” Barnes says in his ad. “It’s about whether people can afford to live in the state they call home. A state where you can afford your health care, where your kids can learn a skill and stay close to home, where a good day’s work earns a good day’s pay and where families can not only get by, but thrive.”
Barnes will need to overcome concerns about his prior statewide loss to U.S. Senator Ron Johnson as he campaigns to win the Democratic nomination.
In the 2022 Senate race, Barnes won the Democratic nomination after the crowded field thinned and when some high-profile Democrats dropped out in the weeks before the primary date. He lost his general election challenge to Johnson, who had been considered one of the most beatable Republican incumbents in the country for Democrats, by a narrow margin.
Before launching his campaign, Barnes had already faced pushback to his run for governor due to that 2022 loss.
The New York Times reported in October that some Wisconsin Democrats were uneasy about Barnes running statewide in 2026. A few days later the Milwaukee Courier, the city’s longest-running Black-owned newspaper, published an opinion piece urging Barnes not to run, saying the state couldn’t risk another loss. The Courier noted that Barnes ran 50,000 votes behind Gov. Tony Evers in 2022, with Evers winning a second term that year. Barnes lost the Senate race by a little over 26,000 votes.
“We need a candidate who can unite this state — and win. Mandela Barnes already showed us he can’t,” the Milwaukee Courier oped stated.
Barnes is pushing back on that narrative. In his campaign ad, he says he knows how to “bring people together” and “how to get things done.”
“I’m running for governor because this jacket wasn’t just something my dad wore. It was a promise,” Barnes says. “We show up. We look out for each other.”
Barnes served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for two terms from 2013 to 2017 before he was elected as the state’s first Black lieutenant governor. He won the lieutenant governor nomination in 2018 in a two-person race, going on to win on the same ticket as Evers.
Since losing the Senate race in 2022, Barnes has served as president of Power to the Polls Wisconsin, a community-based organizing project focused on getting people out to vote. According to his campaign, he led a team that helped knock on over a million doors to engage infrequent voters and improve turnout and get people out to vote for Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and Justice Susan Crawford in their successive winning campaigns.
The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026. The Republican field is less crowded with U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, considered the front runner, and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann the only announced candidates.
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Ryan Strnad, who promoted recycling when he announced earlier this summer that he would seek the Democratic nomination to run for governor, ended his campaign Tuesday. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Democratic hopeful Ryan Strnad, an American Family Field beer vendor from Mukwonago, announced Tuesday he is ending his campaign for governor.
“I want to thank every person who supported this campaign,” Strnad said in a statement. “I ran to give working class families a voice and to deliver results for communities that have long been overlooked.”
Strnad launched his campaign for the Democratic nomination in August, acknowledging he was polarizing and a longshot for the position. He told the Examiner at the start of his campaign that his mother thought he should “run for something smaller.”
He launched his campaign saying that he would seek to improve conditions for workers by repealing Act 10 and getting rid of “right to work” — the law that lets workers who are represented by unions decline to pay union dues without giving up their right to the union’s representation. He said he supported police and allowing access to abortion in Wisconsin.
Strnad said he is endorsing Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the crowded race and encouraged his supporters to support him as well. He said Crowley “is the candidate who can hit the ground running, fight for families, and begin delivering those results for Wisconsin starting on day one.”
Other Democratic hopefuls include Lt. Gov. Sarah Rodriguez, state Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), state Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes.
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