Victoria Davis
Deep pockets are lining up behind both candidates for Madison mayor. According to campaign finance reports, Mayor Paul Soglin has raised nearly $200,000 for his re-election bid and spent $130,000. Challenger Satya Rhodes-Conway has raised a bit more — $220,000 — and spent more, $195,000.
The latest reports, filed March 25, cover fundraising and spending through March 18.
Rhodes-Conway has received $5,000 from developers Joseph and Nic Alexander and another $4,664 from Madison school board member Mary Burke. Thirty percent of Rhodes-Conway’s fundraising total in 2019 ($156,774) came from 29 high-dollar donors.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele — a millionaire — contributed $40,000 to the Leadership WI political action committee that bought $47,000 worth of mailers for Rhodes-Conway. Abele also donated $4,664 directly to her campaign. Former Madison Mayor Joseph Sensenbrenner — who was defeated by Soglin for mayor in 1989 — gave Rhodes-Conway $1,000 to help her unseat his former rival.
Two families with ties to local property developers have together donated $21,500 to Soglin. Forty-four percent of the $112,601 raised in 2019 by Soglin came from 26 donors, including four family members from the Mullins Group. Relatives of former Tavern League of Wisconsin president John Skillrud gave a combined $5,000. Soglin also has support from several local CEOs, including Tom Zimbrick of Zimbrick Automotive, Kim Sponem of Summit Credit Union, and James Imhoff of First Weber Realtors. Even former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson — who lives in the Richmond Hill neighborhood and has voted in Madison since at least 2006 — gave the mayor $250.
Both campaigns are spinning the figures.
“More than 800 individuals made over 1,000 donations, the average donation being $119,” writes Kyle Buda, Rhodes-Conway’s campaign manager, in an email. “Best yet, 75 percent of those donations come from Madisonians.”
Melissa Mulliken, Soglin’s campaign manager, writes in an email that “overall, 83 percent of our contributors are from Dane County and 79 percent of the money we’ve raised has come from Dane County.”
A national LGBTQ group has also supported Rhodes-Conway. Buda estimates the LGBTQ Victory Fund (which Abele chairs) has raised a few thousand dollars in direct donations. That committee also gave $7,000 to Leadership WI to help Soglin’s challenger.
Rhodes-Conway says she’s honored to have the backing of groups supporting LGBTQ candidates across the country, but says the donations aren’t what’s important. “It is important to me to run as an out lesbian — not because that’s why somebody should vote for me,” Rhodes-Conway tells Isthmus. “It’s important because of the possibilities that it opens up for queer youth to see somebody in leadership who is out, and to see that it does get better.”
Madison Teachers Inc. has given $4,664 to Rhodes-Conway’s campaign, and the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, Laura Ricketts, pitched in $1,000.
Soglin received a total of $10,000 from campaign committees, including Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin PAC, Wisconsin Laborers District Council, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 1, Wisconsin Carpenters Political Action Committee and the Building a Better Wisconsin Committee. The mayor is also the candidate of choice for many developers, including Otto Gebhart, Bradley Hutter and Richard Munz.
What are the candidates spending all that money on? Mostly mailers, television spots and digital advertising. As of March 18, Soglin had spent roughly $30,500 on TV and online ads, while Rhodes-Conway had spent $75,000. The mayor spent more than $8,000 on literature, buttons and yard signs, and Rhodes-Conway spent roughly $45,000 on similar materials, since her campaign began in May 2018. Soglin also spent $30,000 on a poll.
“We are up against pretty incredible name recognition,” says Rhodes-Conway. “We have been trying everything we can to reach undecided voters all across the city. That’s why we are so focused on the field and making sure we get people out every single weekend to talk to voters.”
The latest finance reports show that Soglin has nearly three times as much left in his campaign coffers as of March 18, with just under $75,000 in the bank. Rhodes-Conway has $25,000.
If you think running for mayor in the general election isn’t cheap, check out how much it costs to come in third and fourth place in the primary: Ald. Maurice Cheeks spent $140,000 in his bid for mayor. River Alliance of Wisconsin executive director Raj Shukla spent $146,000.
The election is April 2.
