In the 2022 election cycle, donors have already begun kicking in campaign cash to their preferred Wisconsin candidates and causes, with one Madison doctor leading the pack among the state’s top donors.

Dr. Elise Lawson is currently the top donor in Wisconsin politics. According to her profile on the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health website, Lawson is an assistant professor, colon and rectal surgeon, and the Executive Director of the Surgical Collaborative of Wisconsin.

According to state campaign finance filings, this election cycle, Lawson claimed the top spot with a single payment of $960,000 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. In turn, the top recipient of funding from the DPW so far is Jill Underly, who reported $946,532 in contributions from the DPW. Underly defeated Deborah Kerr on April 6, 2021 in the nonpartisan, open seat race for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Lawson continues her trend as a prominent donor from the 2020 election cycle, when she also ranked among the top ten donors in Wisconsin. During that cycle, she contributed $1,030,200 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, most of it coming in three large payments between November 2019 and March 2020.

To see other top donors in the state of Wisconsin — and how those donations were spent by candidates and PACs — start with the Wisconsin Donors page.

Our Spotlight series highlights individual candidates, donors and PACs in state-level politics. The latest campaign finance data for the state of Wisconsin is accessible on our site. Subscribe to be informed anytime new data for the 2022 election cycle (January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2022) is added.