By Alyssa Bowen

House Freedom Action (HFA), a national Super PAC, is inserting itself into the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race by launching ads attacking Judge Susan Crawford in order to aid Judge Brad Schimel in the election scheduled for April 1.

This is the first time this PAC has targeted a Wisconsin judicial election. HFA has previously poured money into races backing the far-right members of the U.S. House of Representatives who call themselves the “Freedom Caucus,” which includes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI). 

Here’s what people should know about the HFA Super PAC.

Ultra Wealthy GOP Megadonors Are Behind It: 

• HFA has taken in more than $20 million in contributions since it was registered in 2017. In the 2023-2024 election cycle, HFA spent more than $4.5 million. 

• The PAC’s largest individual donor in the 2023-24 cycle was retired software executive Mike Rydin, who gave a total of $525,000. Rydin is a GOP megadonor who in 2021 gave the Conservative Partnership Institute more than $25 million to buy a hunting lodge named “Camp Rydin” for the group to entertain and indoctrinate  right-wing congressional members and their staff. CPI is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit launched in 2017 by former Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint. The New York Times described CPI as “the nerve center for the right-wing” and “has become a breeding ground for the next generation of Trump loyalists and an incubator for policies he might pursue.”
  
• Its next largest donor, at over $280,000, was William Cooley, a Florida-based GOP donor, who, according to his profile on the Trumpettes USA blog, spent $100,000 on 20 billboards backing Trump in 2016. In the 2023-2024 cycle, Cooley donated $500,000 to Trump 47 Committee PAC, and gave nearly $1.5 million to other right-wing politicians and causes, in addition to his spending on HFA.

• HFA’s contributions from other PACs included $250,000 from the Jefferson Rising PAC, which received nearly all of its funds from oil billionaire Tim Dunn, and $75,000 from Frecka PAC, a Super PAC launched by major GOP donor and plastics millionaire David Frecka.
  
  • Frecka is the sole funder of Frecka PAC, pumping $2 million into the group last year, which then spent $1.3 million on ads in Ohio backing three Republican candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court and opposing the anti-gerrymandering Issue One amendment.
    
  • Frecka himself also gave House Freedom Action an additional $150,000. He is also a major funder of the Conservative Partnership Institute, according to the group’s 2021 annual report, which called him and his wife “heroes of 2021.” 

How HFA Is Targeting the Wisconsin Supreme Court

• HFA has launched four attack ads in the election. Even though the pro-Schimel PAC is literally funded by GOP megadonors, HFA has tried to paint Crawford tied to megadonors. HFA has also tried to label Crawford as unfair despite the fact that HFA has backed numerous GOP policymakers notorious for making unfair, false, and discredited claims. 

HFA Has Also Assailed Judges Who Dare to Declare Trump Actions Unconstitutional

• The HFA PAC put out an ad in February 2025 applauding efforts by U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ)–who the group spent just over $92,000 to help get reelected in 2024–to target federal judges with impeachment for ruling that Trump administration actions were unconstitutional. A similar ad was later posted favoring Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) that also included a dig at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

TLDR: A GOP mega donor-backed PAC that is closely tied to the far right House Freedom Caucus is running attack ads in Wisconsin to try block Judge Susan Crawford’s bid for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  

For additional information about this article, please contact Evan Vorpahl at evan@truenorthresearch.org.