Nearly $8 Million Spent in Darling, Pasch Recall Election

The candidates and outside groups with a stake in the 8th Senate District recall race have shattered the spending record, shelling out nearly $8 million thus far, according to a nonpartisan group following campaign dollars.

Spending in five of the nine recall elections this summer have surpassed the previous record of $3 million set in 2000 in the 10th Senate District, with the battle between incumbent Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) leading the way with $7.9 million, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Combined spending for all the Wisconsin recall contests tops out at $31.4 million, with estimates for special-interest groups at $25 million.

Around $5.5 million has been spent in the 14th District; $5 million in the northwestern Wisconsin's 10th District; $3.2 million in the 18th District in the Fond du Lac area; $3.1 million in the 12th District in the northeastern part of the state; and $3 million in the La Crosse area's 32nd district, according to the group.

Darling has spent $1.1 million individually, breaking the previous record of $720,000 set by one of Darling’s past opponents.

We Are Wisconsin, a registered political committee of unions led by the AFL-CIO, has raised $4.77 million in July, bringing its total to $9.72 million. The group has supported Democratic candidates in general and in the recall races.

By comparison, the hotly contested 2010 race for governor that pitted Republican Scott Walker against Democrat Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett saw $34 million in spending.

Experts like Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, viewed both inside and outside the state.