REGIONAL BRIEFING PBS News Hour to feature Journal Sentinel reporter’s book
Ryan raises $11 million in first quarter
House Speaker Paul Ryan raked in more than $11 million in the latest fundraising period, his campaign announced Monday.
The campaign said that with the latest $11.1 million haul during the first quarter of 2018, it has raised more than $54 million during this election cycle.
“Thanks to the speaker’s tireless efforts, our members and candidates across the country will have the resources they need this fall to tout how our agenda is allowing the economy to grow and families to keep more of what they earn,” said Kevin Seifert, executive director of Team Ryan.
The Ryan campaign also reported transferring more than $40 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Ryan, of Janesville, is facing challenges from Democrats Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers and Republican Paul Nehlen.
Senate candidate Nicholson raises more than $1 million
MADISON – GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson raised more than $1 million in the first three months of the year, his campaign disclosed Monday.
Nicholson had more than $800,000 on hand as of the end of March — up slightly from the $517,000 he had in his account as of the end of December.
Nicholson, a Delafield businessman and U.S. Marine veteran, is competing against state Sen. Leah Vukmir of Brookfield for the Republican nomination in the Aug. 14 primary. The winner will face Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin Nov. 6.
In all, Nicholson has raised more than $2.3 million since he got in the race in July, according to his campaign.
“Clearly, Wisconsinites want an outsider — and they’re ready to ‘send in the Marine’ to fix Washington’s mess,” Nicholson said in a statement.
Nicholson’s fundraising announcement came shortly after Madison businessman Eric Hovde said he had decided not to jump into the Republican primary.
The other candidates have not yet released their latest fundraising totals. Last year, Vukmir raised about $654,000 and Baldwin raised nearly $10 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Outside groups already weighed in on the race. Those groups have spent more than $9 million either against Baldwin or for Nicholson, about $550,000 for Vukmir and about $4 million for Baldwin.
Of that, about $5 million against Baldwin has come from the political network funded by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch. Richard Uihlein, an Illinois businessman who co-owns Pleasant Prairie-based Uline Corp., has put more than $4 million toward efforts to attack Baldwin or promote Nicholson.
Baldwin’s help is coming from groups such as Vote Vets Action, an organization that gets much of its funding from unions and liberal nonprofit groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. She also has gotten support from the Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, and the League of Conservation Voters.
The PBS News Hour-New York Times book club, Now Read This, chose “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Egan to be its April book of the month.
Egan is slated to appear on the news show April 27.
Egan is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for his reporting on the Great Lakes. He’s a senior water policy fellow at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee who took time away from daily reporting to pen the book, which was released last year. The book comes out in paperback on Amazon on Tuesday.
The book chronicles man-made threats to the Great Lakes, from invasive species to algae blooms.
Readers can join in the discussion digitally on the Now Read This Facebook page. PBS News Hour posted discussion questions on its site for other book clubs to use.