Total campaign spending in Wisconsin tripled from the 2006 and 2008 election cycles to 2010 and 2012 largely due to a major Supreme Court decision and recall contests, according to a new report released Monday.
The 2010 and 2012 elections marked the first in which the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed independent groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections, was in effect.
A Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found candidates and outside groups spent about $392 million on state and federal elections in 2010 and 2012, compared to nearly $124 million in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles.
Taking the recall elections out of consideration, total election spending still doubled in Wisconsin between the 2010 and 2012 election cycles and the previous four years.
Outside groups alone poured more than $171 million into the 2010 and 2012 elections in Wisconsin after only spending about $40 million in 2006 and 2008.
The Greater Wisconsin Committee was the top outside group in support of Democratic candidates in the state between the 2006 and 2012 elections, spending $26.5 million, while the biggest outside spender in support of Republican candidates, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, doled out nearly $18 million.
The most expensive races during this period in Wisconsin were the gubernatorial recall election between Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, which cost $81 million; and the 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, which saw $77 million in total spending, featuring then-U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and former Gov. Tommy Thompson.
