Republican fundraising 'five-alarm fire' causes conservative radio host to panic

Republican fundraising is bottoming out and terrifying conservative radio, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"Sometimes fundraising numbers, especially a fundraising discrepancy between two contenders for the same office, is so great that it ignites a five-alarm fire within political circles," announced Conservative radio host Dan O'Donnell during his Jan. 14 show on WISN-AM (1130). "Today's Supreme Court fundraising totals did just that."

O'Donnell panicked at dirt-level fundraising numbers reported last week by state Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar, the GOP-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court who reported the equivalent of a modest home mortgage, compared to her Democratic-backed opponent, who dragged in seven-digit figures.

The Sentinel reports Lazar reported raising about $200,000 — a tenth of the $2 million raked in by her opponent, liberal state Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor.

"I don't think I need to tell you that is abysmal," O'Donnell told his audience, citing the extreme cash difference.

The January fundraising report covers the second half of 2025 and speaks nothing of money Lazar could earn this year. However, Election Day for this judicial position is less than three months away, on April 7 — giving Lazar scant time to close the gap.

The Sentinel reports Lazar entered the race in October, a mere month after incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley — a “staunch conservative,” according to the Sentinel — announced she would not seek reelection. Taylor launched her campaign in May and now reports $2.6 million, including roughly $2 million in the latter half of 2025.

If Taylor proves more popular and wins this conservative seat, as suggested by fundraising, it will further cement liberal’s growing hold on the state’s judicial system and give them a fourth state Supreme Court victory in a row since 2020. Even if Lazer wins the race, however, it would only maintain the current democrat-majority split. A Taylor victory, however, would expand the liberal majority to 5-2.

A Democratic victory in the race would salt the wounds of Republican judicial losses since billionaire Elon Musk wasted tens of millions of his own money supporting failed conservative judicial candidate Brad Schimel in 2025.

Wisconsin voters appeared to vote against Schimel last year as a statewide retaliatory vote against Republican President Donald Trump. If Taylor wins the race, Democrats are expected to laud that victory as a prediction of national mid-term election.

Read the Sentinel report at this link.