Wisconsin political donors are voting with their wallets. Here are the Republican contenders bringing in most money.

The presidential election may be more than a year away, but Wisconsin residents have already begun voting with their wallets.

According to Federal Election Commission records, state donors have given more than $608,000 to the top eight Republican presidential candidates and Democratic President Joe Biden in the first six months of the year.

Leading the way is GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump, who has taken in $244,142 from Wisconsinites so far this year. He is followed, surprisingly, by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who had collected $139,595 from state contributors, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is third with a haul of $126,720.

No other Republican presidential candidate pulled in more than $30,000 from the Badger State. Biden has received $37,584 from state donors. This would not include money collected by Vice President Kamala Harris in recent Milwaukee-area fundraisers.

Political experts said there are many more campaign dollars to be collected in the state before the November 2024 general election. Eight leading Republican candidates, minus Trump, are holding their first primary debate at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday night.

Trump, who holds a significant lead over the rest of the field, has decided to skip the debate in favor of doing a taped interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Trump is facing federal and state indictments in four jurisdictions — New York, Washington, D.C., Georgia and Florida.

"The money is looking for someone else this time," said Republican lobbyist and strategist Bill McCoshen, referring to Trump. "They know Trump is a hard sell in Wisconsin."

More: Voters want to hear other candidates at the Republican debate in Milwaukee. But Trump looms large.

Why is Nikki Haley raising so much money in Wisconsin?

Between January and July, Haley received 762 contributions from state residents at an average of $183 per donation. She held one fundraiser in the state in June and has another scheduled for Thursday. Donors can give $3,300 for the primary and another $3,300 for the general.

Among her top donors were Milwaukee business leaders and philanthropists Ted and Mary Kellner, who each donated $3,300 to Haley’s campaign. Ted Kellner hosted a Trump fundraiser in Milwaukee in July 2018 and gave to Biden's campaign a year later. (The president and Kellner have been personal friends for decades).

In addition, Haley received the maximum donation of $6,600 from Continental Properties CEO James Schloemer and President Daniel Minahan. Former University of Wisconsin System Regent Scott Beightol also chipped in $3,300.

A campaign spokesman for Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, offered his take on why she has been able to rake up so much cash in Wisconsin.

"Wisconsin is a key battleground state, and voters and donors know what it takes to win a general election," said Ken Farnaso, press secretary for Haley.

Haley's inside link to Wisconsin politics

Ask in-state Republican operatives why Haley is doing so well in Wisconsin, and they all cite one person: Betsy Ankney, her campaign manager.

Ankney developed strong ties in Wisconsin while engineering U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's surprise victory over former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold in 2016. She then took over as the political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2020 cycle, advising Senate candidates around the country.

"Betsy knows this state really well," said one veteran Republican campaign consultant who is not backing any candidate. "She has other spots, too, from her time at the NRSC. She is good and not to be underestimated at the national level."

But to win, Haley will have to play the long game, the consultant said. Right now, she is running in the middle of the pack with numbers in the single digits.

"Dark horse is her strategy and come from behind at the right time," the GOP consultant said. "Timing is a real bitch in presidential politics, though."

DeSantis had two big Wisconsin fundraisers in July

In the first half of the year, DeSantis received 149 donations from Wisconsin supporters at an average of $850 each, the largest average donation of the Republican candidates.

These figures do not include the Florida governor's haul from two major fundraisers on July 11, a breakfast event in Hartland and a luncheon in Lake Geneva.

The hosts for both events included GOP megadonors Liz and Dick Uihlein, owners of Uline packaging company in Pleasant Prairie; Milwaukee financier Steve Einhorn and his wife, Nancy; and Nora and Jim Barry, president of Barry Co. commercial real estate brokerage.

Hosts for the Hartland event only included former Revenue Secretary Cate Zeuske and former Assembly Speaker John Gard; former Public Service Commission Chair Ave Bie; and GOP donor Stephen Ziegler.

One Wisconsin-based DeSantis bundler said the target for the two events was $500,000. The campaign came up a little short of that, the bundler said, but DeSantis did raise at least $400,000 — more than the amount received by any GOP candidate in the first half of the year.

"Haley got a few more donors than I had expected (the Ted Kellner gang)," said the Wisconsin-based bundler. "So, no, I'm not content. I think there's a lot of dollars on the table yet to be gathered here."

He added, "We're pleased that some of Trump's money is coming our way, but we need to get the Nikki Haley people this next quarter."

Trump keeps chugging along with money from small donors

While Haley and DeSantis are fighting over the big donors, Trump's campaign is scooping up thousands of small-dollar contributions from Wisconsinites. He lost to Biden by 20,000 votes in 2020.

Between January and June, Trump received 5,493 donations — including many from the same donors — averaging $44 per contribution. The former president received nearly four times as many donations as the other top seven Republicans got, combined.

Mark Graul, a longtime Republican strategist, said many Trump followers send a small donation to his campaign every time they get a Trump mailer.

"Trump has the most loyal following of any politician that I've ever seen in the 30-plus years I've been doing politics in Wisconsin," said Graul, a critic of Trump. "I've never seen the kind of loyalty that Trump has from his supporters."

Only one donor gave Trump the maximum $3,300 for the primary. Meanwhile, he received more than 20 contributions for one penny each, including eight such donations from a single person.

Who else is out there?

Some of the state's biggest donors, such as the Uihleins and the Kellners, have decided which presidential candidate they're backing.

But that's not true for everyone.

Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, co-founder of ABC Supply roofing and building supplies company, has not yet given to any of the presidential candidates.

In the past, she has spent millions of dollars in support of Trump.

Then there is former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. He backed Trump in the 2016 general election and in 2020.

Asked if the former two-term governor is favoring one of the GOP candidates for the 2024 election, a Walker adviser said, "No, but that won't stop him from giving free advice, as you know."

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Donald Trump, Nikki Haley have raised most money from Wisconsin donors