Hoffman floods Wisconsin race with $8 million as ad wars heat up

The final stretch of the 2026 election cycle has been defined by massive cash injections from wealthy tech founders and a sharp rise in political advertising. In Wisconsin, billionaire venture capitalist Reid Hoffman has poured $8 million into the state Democratic Party over the past five weeks to support gubernatorial nominee David Crowley.

According to state campaign finance records, Hoffman wrote a $2 million check on Sept. 24. He followed that with a $1 million contribution on Oct. 2. Two additional installments totaling $5 million arrived on Oct. 5 and Oct. 20. These payments are part of a wider pattern of last-minute spending by top donors before the Nov. 3 vote.

The spending surge extends beyond Wisconsin. In Texas, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa $750,000 in the past week and a half. Y Combinator co-founder Jessica Livingston contributed another $150,000 to the same race. Bloomberg has already committed roughly $80 million to help Democrats this fall, with a focus on winning control of the House.

On the other side of the aisle, PayPal co-founder Luke Nosek gave $500,000 to Judicial Fairness PAC on Oct. 27. The group supports conservative judicial candidates in Texas. It has also received $2 million from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Musk’s disclosed political giving through late October stands at roughly $475 million, making him the largest known individual donor in this cycle.

These contributions land amid a final-week advertising blitz. More than $1 billion in ad time is booked to air before Election Day. The 2026 cycle has broken all previous records, with more than $11.2 billion spent or reserved for political ads. This total exceeds the spending of any prior presidential election cycle, according to AdImpact.

Hoffman has described his spending as a necessary response to the political climate. On X on Oct. 23, he wrote, "We should get money out of politics. And while others spend outrageous amounts to keep authoritarian clowns in power, those of us who believe in the ideals of America cannot yield."

His funds have supported the House Majority PAC, which has received $8.5 million from him this cycle. In the past two weeks, the group launched 13 ads focused on Jeffrey Epstein. These spots cost about $8.4 million and generated nearly 719.4 million impressions. The PAC had not run a single Epstein-focused ad until this month.

The new advertisements have pushed Epstein into at least six battleground House races. In Arizona’s Second District, an ad titled "Justice" attacked Rep. Eli Crane over his votes on releasing Epstein files. In Pennsylvania’s Eighth District, ads called "Predators" and "Teacher" targeted Rep. Rob Bresnahan. In Ohio’s Tenth District, a spot called "Exposed" went after Rep. Mike Turner over a contribution from an Epstein confidant. All three races are closely contested and could determine which party controls the House.

While super PACs pool money, making it impossible to trace Hoffman’s specific dollars to individual ads, his association with Epstein complicates the Democratic message. Hoffman has acknowledged visiting Epstein’s island and meeting him after the financier’s 2008 guilty plea. In a 2019 interview with Axios, Hoffman said, "My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015. Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful."

The Republican National Committee has used this relationship to criticize Democrats. Spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre told Fox News earlier this week, "Democrats have no problem with money in politics so long as it benefits their own campaign." In Wisconsin, Rep. Tom Tiffany’s campaign released a 15-second ad that splices clips of Crowley mentioning Epstein and billionaires. A narrator in the spot says they are bankrolling Crowley’s campaign.