Friday, Mar. 6, 2026
Is Reid Hoffman the largest donor to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin?
Campaign finance records show Reid Hoffman is the largest donor to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
Hoffman, a venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder, has donated $15.4 million to the state party, according to campaign finance records.
The Wisconsin Ethics Commission confirmed in an email that online records reach back to 2008, though Hoffman only began donating to the state party in 2019. Wisconsin passed legislation in 2015 that allowed unlimited contributions to state parties.
State online campaign finance records show Hoffman’s name twice; he has profiles under different addresses.
Hoffman’s combined donations place him far above the second-highest donor, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whose donations total about $5.9 million.
Hoffman’s name appeared hundreds of times in the latest release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Hoffman apologized in 2019 for his role in rehabbing Epstein’s image.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Sunshine: Wisconsin Campaign Finance: Payer: Reid Hoffman
- Sunshine: Wisconsin Campaign Finance: Democratic Party of Wisconsin
- Wisconsin State Legislature: 2015 Act 117
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Big donors to Wisconsin political campaigns appear in Epstein files
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.
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Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
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