Democrats spend over $200,000 on Wisconsin school board races, overtaking Republicans
When the votes are counted after Tuesday’s election, one of the biggest shows of power for Wisconsin’s political parties will be who comes out on top in school board races.
Over 100 school board candidates across the state have been backed by a political party or political action committee, a Journal Sentinel review of finance reports found.
While school board positions are technically nonpartisan, candidates are increasingly aligning with political parties who can offer voter lists, canvassers, networking and glossy mailers. For the parties, school board elections are an opportunity to connect with voters on emotional local issues, drive voter turnout and nurture candidates who could eventually climb to higher political offices.
The state Democratic party invested about $230,000 in school board candidates this year, according to Joe Oslund, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. The spending is detailed in campaign finance reports filed last week.
Finance reports for the state Republican party don't show any contributions to school board candidates. The party did send funds to its county parties, some of which supported local school board candidates, though not at the same scale as the Democrats.
The state Republican party has vastly trailed the Democrats in fundraising for all purposes this year, bringing in about $400,000 this year compared to the Democrats' nearly $5.4 million.
Republicans made bigger plays for school board seats in 2022, claiming victory in "flipping" school boards across the state to conservative majorities. This spring, Republicans may not be spending as much, but they are still stamping the party's approval on candidates statewide and promoting their campaigns. Officials with the Republican Party of Wisconsin didn't respond to interview requests from the Journal Sentinel about school board races.
Democrats spend most heavily in Kenosha and Green Bay
Finance reports show the Democratic Party of Wisconsin supported about 55 school board candidates across the state. It didn't send money directly to the candidates' committees but provided in-kind donations — for example, sending mailers supporting the candidates.
On the low end, some candidates reported about $18 each in support from the party. Oslund said that represented the party adding the candidates' names to the list of candidates that canvassers discussed with voters.
One of the Democratic party's biggest spends was over $34,000 to support four candidates for four seats on the Kenosha school board: incumbents Todd Price and Marry Modder and candidates Sabrina Landry and Robin Cullen. The county Republican party invested about $2,500 in three of their opponents: Jon Kim, Angela Kretchmer and Bob Tierney.
The district has been rocked by school closures and conflicts over banning books. MassResistance, a group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ group, has sought the removal of books in Kenosha schools it calls "pornographic" and characterized the Democrat-backed candidates as supporting pornography in schools.
The Kenosha County Democratic Party said it was backing "pro-public education" candidates and opposing candidates who support book banning. One of the Republican-backed candidates, Kretchmer, has called for ridding the schools of "licentiousness" material.
"Take back our schools from the Marxist ideas of critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and rid the schools of pornography, which is geared toward grooming our children," Kretchmer said in a clip captured by Kenosha News.
Democrats have invested about the same amount, about $34,000, in Green Bay, backing incumbent Andrew Becker and candidate Kou Lee for two seats. The other two candidates, Alex Mineau and Paul Boucher, are favored by the Republican Party of Brown County, though it didn't report any spending on their campaigns as of March 18.
Democrats outspend Republicans in Waukesha County, where Republicans hope to widen the majority on school boards
The Waukesha County Republican Party and its affiliated political action committee, WisRed, is already sitting comfortably across the county. This spring, WisRed hopes to widen its majority hold on school boards in the county.
In Menomonee Falls, WisRed is looking to take every seat.
When WisRed launched in 2021, Menomonee Falls school board member Jennifer Grant described the Falls school board as having "only one conservative." Three years later, Grant is one of six board members who got elected with the backing of WisRed. The only non WisRed member, Keri Duce, is stepping down this spring, saying she felt like she was on an island.
The Democrats have spent about $8,000 on mailers to support two candidates — Jessica Birkholz and John Witt — who are hoping to assume Duce's spot and unseat Grant, who is up for re-election. Grant and her WisRed associate, Travis Langer, each received about $1,483 from the county Republican party.
Another battleground: the board of the Waukesha School District, where three seats are up for election.
While WisRed Republicans are backing three candidates, the Democrats are backing only two. The Republican-backed candidates — Kelly Piacsek, Anthony Zenobia and Eric Brooks — each reported $517 from the county Republican party. The Democrats spent about $22,000 to support their candidates, Stephanie Fidlin and Angelique Byrne, primarily with mailers.
The Elmbrook School District is an outlier in Waukesha County, with WisRed-backed members holding just two seats. With two other seats on the ballot this April, WisRed has a chance to take a majority of the seven seats. The WisRed candidates, Nicole Hunker and Peter Machi, have each reported about $2,9000 from the county party. The other two candidates, Mary Wacker and incumbent Jean Lambert, haven't reported any financial aid from the Democrats.
Candidates say party endorsements have changed the races
In Waukesha, Byrne said she worked with parents for two years to "try and keep school board races nonpartisan, backing nonpartisan candidates," but she realized it was impossible to reach as many voters as partisan candidates.
"Unfortunately, in Waukesha, nonpartisan candidates couldn’t raise enough money to send mailers on their own," Byrne said. "This is why I decided to take the in-kind donation from the Democratic Party for mailers."
More: Political divides, declining population are causing fewer people to run in rural local elections
For the Arrowhead School Board, there's a race between two candidates who call themselves conservative, but only one who is backed by WisRed: Anne Angeli, who has worn that endorsement proudly.
"I am proud to say I have been vetted by the Republican party of Waukesha county’s WisRed initiative," Angeli said on "The Dan O’Donnell Show." "My opponent, on the other hand, hopes that if he prints the word 'conservative' enough in big letters on mailers that he sends out to his constituents, and says the word enough, that we will all forget about his far left voting record.”
While the Arrowhead board already consists mostly of WisRed-backed members, Angeli is hoping to grab another spot that has been held by Craig Thompson, who said in a Facebook post that he has held a "conservative viewpoint" for over 40 years, including the 19 he has served on the board, but was never endorsed by a political party. In a Facebook post, he called for keeping "politics out."
"Politics have no place on a public school board," Thompson wrote. "Harsh and unyielding political views cause divisiveness and breed lack of respect and trust rather than collaboration toward mutual goals. It is crucial that we as a community elect nonpartisan school board members who pledge to serve the entire school community with fairness and an open mind, not candidates beholden to a political agenda."
1776 Project PAC invests $60,000
In addition to the political parties, other political action committees have stepped into local races.
The 1776 Project PAC endorsed 24 candidates for Wisconsin school boards this year and has spent about $60,000 supporting them, according to Ryan Girdusky, a conservative consultant who founded the group in 2021. It's a smaller roster than last year, when the group backed about 50 candidates in 28 districts.
Girdusky launched the group to support candidates who vow to overturn any teaching of critical race theory or use of the 1619 Project, a New York Times Magazine piece with curriculum by the Pulitzer Center about the history of slavery. The group also opposes social emotional learning and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).
The 1776 Project's largest identified funder is Restoration PAC, which is largely funded by GOP mega-donor Richard Uihlein. He and his wife, Elizabeth Uihlein, are co-owners of the Uline packaging company in Pleasant Prairie.
Girdusky said none of the candidates the group backed in Wisconsin asked for the endorsement but were "recommended by conservatives in the state."
Finance reports show the group spent about $49,000 on mailers for 24 school board candidates in the districts of Arrowhead, Elkhorn, Elmbrook, Hamilton, Hartland, La Crosse, Mukwonago, Neenah, Slinger, Waukesha and Whitnall. The online list of endorsement is missing two candidates who were supported with mailers: Kelly Piacsek and Anthony Zenobia, both in Waukesha.
Girdusky said his group spent an additional $10,000 on text messaging in support of the candidates.
More: Neenah school board candidates said they weren't contacted by 1776 Project
Teachers unions make smaller donations across state
Teachers unions have also invested in candidates across the state, with regional chapters of the Wisconsin Education Association Council putting up at least $10,000.
Giving donations ranging from $250 to $700 to each candidate, they have supported at least 26 candidates in 18 school districts: Appleton, Beloit, Chilton, Cudahy, De Pere, Evansville, Greenfield, Lodi, Menomonee Falls, Middleton-Cross Plains, Monona Grove, Neenah, Oshkosh, Shorewood, South Milwaukee, Waukesha, Waunakee and Waupun.
Contact Rory Linnane at [email protected]. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Democrats, Republicans report spending in Wisconsin school board races
