New ads running across Wisconsin are so extreme and misleading in their claims about transgender people that they could be confused for parody—but they are very real. The group working hard to frighten voters about this community isn’t a fringe religious group either. It’s the Wisconsin Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC), a group heavily supported by two billionaires bankrolling more than $1.3 million in ads targeting Democrats in several key November races in a frenzied effort to avoid losing control of the chamber for the first time in 16 years.
WisPolitics reported the details last Friday on the ad strategy, funded by RACC and individual Republican campaigns. They include:
- The 92nd Assembly District in western Wisconsin: More than $102,000 is being spent by RACC and Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) to target Democrat Jeremiah Fredrickson in an ad that claims Fredrickson supports “radical and creepy things” like “adult men who believe they’re women have a right to use bathrooms and changing rooms with little girls.”
- The 88th Assembly District in northeast Wisconsin: RACC and Rep. Ben Franklin (R-DePere) have more than $170,000 worth of ad time reserved for commercials that include a narrator saying Democratic challenger Brandy Tollefson joined “creepy politicians that tried to stop tougher penalties for child predators and groomers” by doing a fundraiser with them.
- 85th Assembly District in Marathon County: RACC and Rep. Pat Snyder (R-Weston) have at least $138,600 in ads accusing John Kroll, a Marathon County Board supervisor, of having a fundraiser with “creepy politicians in Madison” who opposed harsher penalties for child predators, “forcing little girls to share bathrooms and dressing rooms with grown men who believe they’re women.”
Similar language and other baseless claims are being made in RACC ads in the 89th District against Rep. Ryan Spaude (D-Green Bay), the 61st District against Ben Gruber on behalf of Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield), the 53rd District against Democrat Becky Nichols on behalf of Neenah business owner Dave Daniels, the 51st District against Ben Gruber on behalf of Rep. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville), the 30th District against Kevin Knoke on behalf of Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls), and the 21st District against Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz on behalf of Republican Dylan Pfaffenbach.
The reference to “creepy politicians in Madison” appears to be aimed at six Assembly Democrats who voted against a bill that created a new felony crime about so-called “grooming” behavior that leads to sexual conduct with children, something already against the law in Wisconsin.
One of the bill’s critics, Rep. Angelina Cruz (D–Racine), told the Racine County Eye the bill was redundant, misleading, and would single out LGBTQ+ educators and students for discrimination or false accusations.
“I will never vote for legislation that institutes hate speech, and that is recognized hate speech,” Cruz said. “This is not about protecting children. It’s about advancing a political agenda.”
But Republicans have taken the handful of representatives who voted against the bill as a reason to run ads against anyone who associated with them, thanks largely to the multi-million dollar donations made to state Republicans by billionaires Diane Hendricks and Liz Uihlein (whose husband Dick is also a prominent GOP donor).
All of the Democrats being targeted in these ads share a throughline: all are engaged in public service. Spaude is a former prosecutor; Nichols, Kroll, and Tollefson have years of combined experience serving on local government bodies; Fredrickson is a retired teacher; Knoke is an active teacher and a veteran; Brist is a veteran; and Gruber has served as a paramedic and a conservation warden. All have spoken about their pull to want to serve in the Legislature as a way to address the economic hardships being faced by Wisconsin families.
What the Republican ads don’t talk about
The Republican ads also have a common throughline: They have nothing to say about the economic hardships being faced by Wisconsin families. The ads say nothing about inflation, affordable housing, the childcare crisis, job creation, ongoing threats to rural healthcare, or any kind of plan to provide property tax relief by boosting state aid to school districts.
Gruber explains how he is choosing to handle the situation in a social media post titled, “Don’t. Take. The. Bait.”
“I bet we can all agree that the constant negativity and culture wars are exhausting,” he says from behind the wheel of his truck, making clear he won’t respond “because that’s exactly what they want.”
“Pay attention to who’s defunding your communities and who’s prioritizing billionaires,” Gruber says.
Knoke posted a video explaining that Zimmerman is “in a bit of a pickle because he can’t really run on his own record,” which included missing more than 200 votes in the last Assembly session as well as support for a sales tax exemption for data center construction estimated to cost the state $2 billion.
“What does he do if he can’t run on his own record?” Knoke asks. “He attacks me with silly ads. He wants to distract [and] have you looking elsewhere.”
