Wisconsin governor’s race fundraising: Where candidates stand

MADISON, Wis. (Gray) - All candidates in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race have submitted their campaign finance reports.

Full candidate breakdown

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany raised more than $8.7 million, with $6.2 million of that coming from the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Among Democrats, Mandela Barnes led the field followed by Francesca Hong for money raised in the first half of the year.

Beyond total fundraising, cash on hand — the amount a campaign actually has available to spend — offers another measure of financial standing in the race.

Tiffany leads that category as well, with $2,998,334 available to spend.

On the Democratic side, Francesca Hong reported $410,563 cash on hand, followed by Kelda Roys at $406,493, Joel Brennan at $359,583, and Mandela Barnes at $204,208.

Earlier this week, Sara Rodriguez told reporters she had about $200,000 cash on hand, but her campaign finance reports only showed $34,991 in cash.

Late Thursday, Rodriguez amended her report to display $640,000 cash on hand. Then, Rodriguez’s campaign retracted the amended report and said “an error occurred during input. The balances on the original report are correct and will be amended.”

Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at UW-Madison, said the financial picture will shift after the primary.

“I expect both parties will have plenty of resources going into the general election,” Burden said. “This will be, if not the most expensive campaign in history, certainly one with tens of millions of dollars, if not over the $100 million mark. Resources will not be the factor that decides this election.”

The primary election will be Aug. 11.

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