Maria Lazar says Wisconsin Supreme Court can’t be bought as she accepts donations from several billionaires

During a recent forum, conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Maria Lazar said that she wishes she were friends with billionaires after taking several maximum campaign donations ($20,000) from prominent billionaires.

Lazar made the remarks during a forum held by the Manitowoc County Patriots on Jan. 28, during which she referenced a previous exchange with her opponent, liberal Chris Taylor. She claimed that Taylor was friends with billionaires while adding that the Wisconsin Supreme Court cannot be bought.

“She [Taylor] went on and on and on and, and, and I only work for big people who have lots of money and my best friends are billionaires, and I honestly wanted to stand up and say to her, ‘I wish. I would have such great vacations, I would fly on great planes, and I am not,” Lazar said. “The state of Wisconsin is better than this. It is not a state where you can buy this court.”

Lazar’s donors

A Heartland Signal analysis of Lazar’s campaign contributions found that five wealthy individuals have given the maximum $20,000 donation to Lazar’s Supreme Court campaign committee, including Wisconsin’s wealthiest billionaire Diane Hendricks. Last September, Forbes reported that Hendricks, who co-founded and owns the construction supply company ABC Supply, is worth an estimated $22.3 billion.    

Elizabeth Uihlein contributed another $20,000 donation to Lazar. Uihlein and her husband Richard inherited the Schlitz brewing company fortune and own the business supply company Uline. Both are also major donors to Republican candidates. The pair has given hundreds of millions of dollars to conservative candidates and PACs in the last decade.

Other top donors to Lazar’s campaign include United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) Chairman Tim Schmidt, Couri Insurance Agency President Gerald Couri, retired owner of Keiffer & Co. Inc Stephen Keiffer, retired tech employee John Meier and California banking executive and former U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde.

Records also show that just 3.7% of the $438,835.88 Lazar has raised for her 2026 campaign have come from small-dollar donations (contributions less than $200).

Taylor’s donors

As of Feb. 17, Taylor boasts a major fundraising lead over Lazar with $3,879,686.39 in total contributions to Lazar’s $438,835.88. Taylor has also drawn significant money from very wealthy donors, including maximum donations from Rockefeller family fortune heir Adila Messinger, billionaire Pat Stryker, and Lynde B. Uihlein (a cousin of Elizabeth and Richard).

On Feb. 3, Taylor received a $260,000 contribution from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Under Gov. Scott Walker (R), the Republican-dominated state legislature removed several campaign finance restrictions and implemented a provision allowing state political parties to contribute unlimited funds to statewide candidates. 

Small-dollar donations make up $1,044,699.99, or about 27%, of Taylor’s fundraising haul since Jan. 1, 2025.

As Democratic fundraising has outpaced Republicans in the 2020s, Taylor and other liberal candidates in Wisconsin have used the law to their advantage in recent years. However, billionaires like Elon Musk and the Uihleins spent millions on last year’s Wisconsin court election in a failed attempt to elect conservative Brad Schimel. The 2025 race became the most expensive state Supreme Court race in United States history. 

Individual contributions are capped at $20,000 for statewide races. Republicans have controlled both chambers of the Wisconsin state legislature since 2011. Some Democrats, like state Sen. Chris Larson (D-Madison), have introduced legislation to restrict the state’s campaign finance laws, but the proposals have failed to advance under Republican control.

The Lazar and Taylor campaigns did not immediately respond to requests to comment for this story.

Scope of the race

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race will be held on April 7. Lazar and Taylor will also face each other in a televised debate on March 25.

The race will determine who will replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative. This year’s race will not determine the partisan swing of the court like last year’s high-profile showdown between Susan Crawford and Schimel. However, the liberals can expand their majority to 5-2 if Taylor is successful, guaranteeing a liberal majority on the court until at least 2030. The winner will be elected to a 10-year term.