Who pays to lobby the state government.
Registered lobbyists, their clients and what the clients reported, from Wisconsin’s lobbying records.
registered lobbyists
Lobbyist licenses listed in the Ethics Commission's Directory of Licensed Lobbyists for the 2025-2026 session, printed Oct. 20, 2026: everyone licensed during the session, including 80 licenses later surrendered (722 not surrendered). A few people appear twice because they held two licenses during the session. The site's search page reported 804 results the same day; the two-entry difference is not explained.
clients (lobbyist employers)
Principals listed in the Commission's Directory of Registered Lobbying Organizations for the 2025-2026 session, printed Oct. 20, 2026 (3 with a cessation date). The site's principal search reported 1,003 results the same day and the expenditure report lists 963 principals; the three lists are not the same set (for example, the expenditure report includes principals that are not listed in the directory), and the Commission does not explain the differences.
| DoorDash, Inc. | $2,244,745.00 |
| Wisconsin Infrastructure Investment Now, Inc. | $2,019,963.00 |
| Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce | $1,787,975.00 |
| Wisconsin Hospital Association | $1,151,938.00 |
| Wisconsin REALTORS Association | $1,150,014.00 |
| Americans For Prosperity | $915,562.00 |
| Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation | $910,961.00 |
| Wisconsin Insurance Alliance | $775,809.00 |
| Wisconsin Property Taxpayers Inc | $771,185.00 |
| Sports Betting Alliance | $769,598.00 |
| Wisconsin Counties Association | $627,224.00 |
| Forest County Potawatomi Community | $621,777.00 |
| Badger Advocates, Inc. | $560,115.00 |
| Wisconsin Automobile and Truck Dealers Association, Inc. | $512,920.00 |
| ATC Management Inc. | $476,143.00 |
| Wisconsin Health Care Association Inc. | $458,867.00 |
| Alliance of Health Insurers, U.A. | $451,824.00 |
| Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club | $417,000.00 |
| Wisconsin Towns Association | $402,038.00 |
| WISCONSIN CABLE COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION | $388,301.00 |
| WEC Energy Group, Inc. | $370,388.00 |
| Children's Hospital of Wisconsin | $355,488.00 |
| Wisconsin Conservation Voters | $346,774.00 |
| Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin (TDA) | $339,955.00 |
| State Bar of Wisconsin | $332,183.00 |
Total lobbying expenditures the principal reported on its Statements of Lobbying Activities and Expenditures for January 2025 through June 2026, as totaled by the Ethics Commission ('Session-to-date'). Under the Commission's instructions this includes payments to its lobbyists (fees or salary attributable to lobbying, and their expense reimbursements), the part of other employees' salaries spent on lobbying, public relations and paid advertising aimed at influencing legislation or rules (when over $500 in a six-month period), lobbying research, volunteer costs, overhead attributable to lobbying, and payments to officials. It is not campaign contributions and not the organization's total budget. Amounts are whole dollars as the report prints them.
Sources: Wisconsin Ethics Commission, Eye on Lobbying, Total Lobbying Expenditures, 2025-2026 session, sorted by dollars (PDF); Eye on Lobbying, Lobbying Activity and Expenses, 2025-2026 session; Eye on Lobbying, Directory of Licensed Lobbyists, 2025-2026 session (PDF, printed Oct. 20, 2026); Eye on Lobbying, Directory of Registered Lobbying Organizations, 2025-2026 session (PDF, printed Oct. 20, 2026); Eye on Lobbying, Frequently Asked Questions (report schedule); Wisconsin Ethics Commission, Lobbying User's Guide (July 19, 2022): what principals report on the Statement of Lobbying Activities and Expenditures.
How to read this
Wisconsin calls the organizations that hire or employ lobbyists principals; on this page principals are the clients. Registration, licensing and reporting run by two-year legislative session; this is the 2025-2026 session. Every registered principal must file a Statement of Lobbying Activities and Expenditures every six months, whether or not it lobbied: by July 31 for January-June and by January 31 for July-December. The latest period reported is January-June 2026; the July-December 2026 statements are not due until Jan. 31, 2027, so the session totals cover 18 of 24 months. The Commission's Total Lobbying Expenditures report lists 963 principals; 865 reported more than $0 for the session so far, and together they reported $70,603,312.00 and 252,157 hours (the Commission's printed totals). Associations of local governments, such as the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Towns Association, register as principals and are included. Hours are the time the principal's lobbyists and other employees spent on lobbying; an organization can report dollars with few or no hours, for example when it pays for advertising or public relations urging the public to contact lawmakers, which the Commission counts as lobbying spending. Names are as filed. A large amount means an organization spent heavily on lobbying; it does not show that any official acted because of it.
What is not here yet
- July-December 2026 spending is not yet reported (statements due Jan. 31, 2027), so session totals cover January 2025 through June 2026 only.
- The expenditure report gives one dollar total per period; the breakdown by kind of spending (lobbyist pay, advertising, research and so on) is on each principal's statement and was not pulled.
- The counts of lobbyists and principals differ between the Commission's directory exports and its search pages (802 vs. 804 lobbyist entries; 927 vs. 1,003 principals); the directory figures are used because they come from saved files that can be recounted.
- State agency legislative liaisons, who register separately, are not counted.
- The report prints whole dollars. For 84 principals the printed periods differ from the printed session total by a few dollars (cents rounded away); the session total is used as printed. Principals with a negative amount for a period (printed in parentheses, which lowers the session total; the report does not say why): RELX Inc. (July-December 2025: -$6,000).
- Hours are also printed as whole numbers. For 240 principals the printed period hours do not add exactly to the printed session hours, and the principals' printed session hours add to 252,267 against the Commission's printed total of 252,157; the printed total is used. Hours are shown only for context and are never compared with dollars.
Gaps in the lobbying records as of the date checked.