Wisconsin’s 2022 gubernatorial race between incumbent Tony Evers and challenger Tim Michels has become the most expensive governor’s race in the United States.
Bowdoin College legal studies professor, Michael Franz said various factors contribute to high campaign spending for Democratic and Republican candidates, with the most spending being allocated towards advertisements.
Franz directs the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks advertising in federal elections. The project is a successor to the former Wisconsin Advertising Project, which conducted political advertising research between 1996 and 2008.
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Gaining — or maintaining — control of the governor and Senate seats in Wisconsin is incredibly important for both parties, Franz said. Candidates receive large portions of their funding from outside donors, and this funding plays a critical role in advertising for the elections in the state.
Revenue sources for candidates include Political Action Committees (PACs), which are often established by corporations, organizations or labor unions, according to the State of Wisconsin Ethics Committee. PACs typically lean on members to pool funding that is donated to individual candidates, ballot initiatives or legislation.
With the 2022 midterm elections, candidates are claiming as much airtime as possible. If a candidate loses, they want to make sure that they advertised in every territory possible. As a result, campaigns are getting more expensive, Franz said.
Wisconsin’s gubernatorial and Senate elections have garnered national attention because of the competitive nature of the races. Thus, candidates are receiving increased pressure to broaden their range of advertisements, Franz said.
PACs and other funding organizations are aggressively pursuing candidates in their advertisement sprees because of the limited space for ads, according to Franz.
Tim Michels has largely self-funded his governor’s campaign, contributing nearly $12 million, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Michels initially denied donations from super PACs but has reversed his decision and now accepts large donations from large organizations up to $20,000 — the maximum allowed donation by law.
Tony Evers raised over $4.5 million dollars in the span of 37 days, according to WisPolitics.
UW political science and public affairs professor, John Witte said his precedent of campaign spending by both parties in Wisconsin is likely to continue. Over the last three decades, media advertising has become the biggest way for political campaigns to take place.
“It has always been the case —in the last 30 years — that media advertising has been the biggest way for political campaigns to take place,” Witte said.
Evers has come out with more funding than Michels for the election, due to early funding as the incumbent governor, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Evers’ top donor is the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s Segregated Fund and Tim Michels is the top donor of his own campaign, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
Evers’ campaign spokesperson, Sam Roecker said grassroots organizing is at the heart of their campaign, and investing in this is pertinent for the election in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
Winning by only one percentage point in 2018, elections come down to every single vote, and expanding advertisements in every way possible ensure nothing is taken for granted, Roecker said.
To bolster support for candidates, television advertisements for the Wisconsin gubernatorial race from Oct. 3-16 totaled 12,515 airings, where Democrats have had an advantage with 3,673 more airings, according to the media project.
A majority of these campaign advertisements have been attack ads, according to the media project. Attack ads can be challenging, as many voters aren’t in favor of them and find them too harsh. But by dominating a majority of airtime, campaigns continue to stream them, Franz said.
Negative campaigning is the most effective tool for winning an election, Witte said. Since Sept. 5, there have been 32,925 advertisements for the governor race, according to the media project, 74.9% of which have been attack ads.
Political advertisements are helpful in reminding people to vote. But when attack advertisements dominate the media, it can impact the flow of accurate information, Franz said.
“It’s important that voters see their responsibility as citizens to participate,” Franz said. “But actually, we need to start taking the reins and insisting that the information flow is truthful and accurate, or as truthful and accurate as it can be. And that we reject information and purveyors of information that are trying to tell us mistruths and lies.”
