Photo Above: Holly Klucarich, who is on-site for Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition’s field operations overseen by Executive Director Spencer LaVerde, joins outgoing RNC Chair Michael Whatley at his farewell event. We gathered to thank him for helping bring the 2024 Republican National Convention to Milwaukee, giving Wisconsin the chance to shine on the national stage.
Wisconsin Leads the Way to Stop ActBlue
President Trump concluded his post-Labor Day press conference today—five years after he posted about our efforts to stop ActBlue’s process for moving billions of dollars. Click on https://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/susan_crabtree/ to see Susan Crabtree’s upcoming latest story on our new state legislation to stop this process.
RealClearPolitics—the outlet whose polling is called the “Dow Jones” of American politics—was the first to ask if Congress would close this loophole for donations to national campaigns. Crabtree’s reporting helped spark Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil’s investigation, which ultimately led to the resignation of seven top ActBlue officials. Now, the first model state legislation to close this process also comes from Wisconsin, the state that will host the most crucial state legislative races in the country in 2026.
Our work at Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition remains stronger than ever. After attending national events, we’re back home, focused on Wisconsin’s priorities.
For 10 years, even before we formed the Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition, our team has educated on the dangers of the unverified billions of dollars being processed through ActBlue to liberal causes. Now 19 Wisconsin legislators have introduced the first state legislation in the nation to stop this process. Despite Steil’s investigation, ActBlue processed another $481 million in the first six months of 2025 (beating their average $372 million per six months).
While some in Wisconsin are discouraged this week at a State Supreme Court retirement, it really is all about the legislature in Wisconsin. Even if liberals control two branches of Government, unless they flip the Assembly next year conservatives can stop progressive legislation, and if liberals also fail to flip the State Senate either then conservatives can continue to pass Constitutional Amendments like the ban on Zuckerbucks that did not require the Governor’s signature and cannot be overruled by the State Supreme Court.
Visiting National Leaders who Came to Milwaukee
This month, our team attended a farewell event honoring RNC Chair Michael Whatley, who will now run for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. We joined leaders from all 50 states, not merely as attendees, but to thank him for Chairing the 2024 RNC Convention to Milwaukee—a moment that spotlighted Wisconsin before the nation.
It was also a meaningful moment of reciprocation: months after welcoming over 1,000 leaders to the Pfister Hotel—where Senator JD Vance delivered the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s breakfast address—we joined Chairman Whatley for the Thursday luncheon with leaders from all 50 states – where JD Vance spoke once more. It was a reminder that Wisconsin’s leadership continues to resonate—and our team is back here to remain rooted in the communities we represent.
AB 385: Wisconsin Leading the Nation
Wisconsin continues to lead on reform—authored and championed right here at home with Assembly Bill 385.
This legislation, born from our 2015 white paper, is now before the Wisconsin Legislature, backed by a powerful coalition of:
- 14 Assembly Representatives: Murphy, Tittl, Behnke, Brill, Dittrich, Goeben, Gundrum, Knodl, Kreibich, Maxey, O’Connor, Penterman, Wichgers, and Armstrong
- 5 State Senators: Tomczyk, Cabral‑Guevara, Feyen, Quinn, and Wanggaard
AB 385 targets the billions of untraceable donations flowing through platforms like ActBlue—often attributed to donors labeled “unemployed” and raising concerns about foreign or unverifiable sources.
Our solution is simple: enforce the same basic verification standards used by every online business—CVV codes and billing address matching. During Steil’s investigation this year ActBlue stated they would finally check this information as a company policy – but company policies can change back just as quickly. Let’s simply make it law.
Focused Back Home
Now that we’ve returned from national events, our focus is squarely on Wisconsin. From AB 385 to voter education, we remain dedicated to defending the integrity of our elections—one legislative win at a time.
Follow developments at:
www.wisconsinffc.com
Thank you for standing with Wisconsin’s conservative resurgence.
Sincerely,
John Pudner
President, Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition
jpudner@wisconsinffc.com
www.wisconsinffc.com
P.S. Click for the tweet by President Trump when Pudner was the first to document and detail the hundreds of millions of dollars in unverified donations processed via ActBlue. A picture of that tweet of the story quoting me, is followed by two other photos:
- Holly again with Janet Fogarty, MA National Committeewoman, as she had us as her guest at RNC this month after the Massachusetts group was the first to arrive for the Faith and Freedom Coalition breakfast in Milwaukee last year with JD Vance.
Myself with Minnesota GOP Chair Alex Plechash and Illinois Committeewoman Rhonda Belford—our “border state” allies on two of Wisconsin’s four borders.
