DC group spends over $111,000 in Brookfield mayor race

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Outside money being poured into Brookfield mayor election

A Washington, D.C.-based political organization has spent over $110,000 to support Mike Hallquist, the alderman challenging City of Brookfield mayoral incumbent Steve Ponto in the April 7 election.

The State & Local Election Alliance, or SLEA, has committed around $111,000 on Hallquist's race for mayor, according to reports filed to the State of Wisconsin Ethics Commission. The group spent $60,177 on "mailing service," $36,300 on "Media - online advertising," and the rest of the money on transactions related to phone and text messaging ahead of the election, reports said.

SLEA drives money into city and county-level candidates in swing states who "are our last line of defense against Trump," according to the website. The group's financial contributions aren't authorized by any candidate or the candidate's committee, the website says.

Hallquist told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he only recently learned of the group's investment in his campaign, but he said it's something candidates can't control.

"I don’t like outside spending in local races at all," he told the Journal Sentinel April 3. "Even if some organization is spending in favor of me, that doesn’t change my position on the issue."

The majority of people directly supporting Hallquist's campaign are Brookfield residents, according to a campaign finance report certified March 30. Hallquist said those who reside out-of-state are friends and family.

Hallquist received over $400 from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, according to the report. Hallquist is endorsed by the Waukesha County Democratic Party on its voter's guide.

Ponto said he can't remember a time in his 16-year tenure as mayor when a Brookfield nonpartisan race has ever attracted this much out-of-state spending.

"That just blew my mind," he told the Journal Sentinel April 3 of his reaction to SLEA spending over $100,000 on Hallquist's campaign. "It raises the question for how these races will be run in the future."

Ponto's own campaign is largely funded by Brookfield residents he knows who wanted to see him continue to serve as mayor, Ponto said.

"Frankly I didn’t even have to approach them," he said.

Campaign finance records show that political action committees and other groups have not put money behind Ponto for the 2026 election. Forward Wisconsin PAC, a political action committee established in September 2025, has paid for advertisements against Mike Hallquist.

Though he is endorsed by the Republican Party of Waukesha County's WisRed Voter Guide, Ponto's campaign financing reports show no donations from any political party.

It also does not list payment to his daughter, Stephanie Ponto, who gained attention for the controversial ways she's communicated on social media about Hallquist ahead of the election, at times as her dad's campaign manager.

State & Local Election Alliance funds other Waukesha County races

Hallquist is one of six local Wisconsin candidates the group's online fundraiser for the swing state expressly supports, including Brookfield Common Council District 6 candidate Catherine Kahler and Waukesha mayoral candidate Alicia Halvensleben. Candidates for Green Bay and Kenosha common councils are also getting support, reports show.

SLEA did not answer the Journal Sentinel's request for comment on why they chose to support the specific candidates in Brookfield. For the transactions made for messaging on Hallquist's campaign, the alliance paid three separate East Coast agencies: Mission Control, Inc., Brushfire, LLC, and Assemble the Agency.

Although school board races are meant to be nonpartisan, there's also plenty of money being poured into local campaigns ahead of the April 7 election, including in the Elmbrook School District.

The Wisconsin Education Association Council, which is the state teachers' union, and conservative organization Moms for Liberty Action have both reported spending on candidates in the Elmbrook School Board race, the Journal Sentinel previously reported.

Bridget Fogarty covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa and Elm Grove for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at bfogarty@usatodayco.com.