GOP legislative candidates outraise Democrats

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans running for the Wisconsin Legislature easily raised more money than their Democratic opponents over the first half of the year, according to a report released Tuesday.

The government-watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analyzed campaign finance reports covering the first six months of 2022. The group found that Republican candidate committees and the two GOP-led legislative committees — the Republican Assembly

Campaign Committee and the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate — raised $4.36 million. Democratic candidate committees and the party’s two legislative committees — the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and the State Senate Democratic Committee — raised $3.11 million.

Total fundraising by all committees rang in at $7.47 million, eclipsing the previous six-month fundraising record of $7.12 million set during the first half of 2020.

Republicans go into the fall elections with a commanding majority in both the Assembly and Senate. The GOP almost certainly will maintain control of both houses thanks largely to gerrymandered district boundaries.