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Majority of Feingold Campaign Contributions Coming From Outside Wisconsin

Russ Feingold / Wikimedia Commons
October 6, 2015

A majority of contributions pouring into Russ Feingold’s current senatorial campaign has come from outside the state of Wisconsin, breaking promises made by the former senator during previous campaigns.

Feingold, the Democratic hopeful who is attempting to take back the Wisconsin Senate seat he once held from current Sen. Ron Johnson, acknowledged last month that he would not renew his previous pledge, which promised a majority of his contributions would come from residents within the state of Wisconsin–a promise he first made during his first Senate run in 1992.

Now, a majority of his donations are coming from out of state. In fact, only 43 percent of his entire campaign contributions are currently coming from Wisconsin for the 2016 elections.

In addition, $1.8 million has been dumped into the race to help Feingold from just five liberal groups--$300,000 more than what has been given to help Johnson from conservative groups.

The Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel writes:

Indeed, Feingold acknowledged that he was abandoning his long-held pledge to raise a majority of his funds from Wisconsin residents. The National Journal reported this year that only 43% of his cash came from in-state sources.

Beyond that, Feingold is the beneficiary of heavy spending by third-party groups early in the contest.

Unofficially, it appears that five liberal groups — led by the League of Conservation Voters— have already spent or have bought airtime worth $1.8 million in the race.

That's at least $300,000 more than the three outside conservative groups have poured into helping Johnson, who defeated Feingold in 2010.