After Wisconsin Vote, RNC Likely to Launch War on ‘Zuckerbucks’

Wisconsin voters resoundingly elected to ban out-of-state election interference with vote counting Tuesday.

Barely 24 hours later, Newsmax learned that members of the Republican National Committee were discussing launching a movement nationwide to eradicate the influence of outside money in election administration such as that deployed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2020.

With nearly all votes counted, 54% of Badger State voters supported Question 1 to ban all private funding of elections. An even larger number of voters (58%) voted to enact Question 2 to restrict the administration of elections “to only election officials designated by law.”

Both measures enjoyed support that transcended party labels.

“Verifiable elections are critical to our freedom,” Joan Beglinger, 2022 independent candidate for Wisconsin governor, told Newsmax after the vote. “We live in a world where winning is everything and a political environment where people will cheat if they can. Passing constitutional amendments to keep outside money out of our elections and bar people who have no business in our political process was the only option available to the voters because we have a governor [Democrat Tony Evers] who opposes necessary reforms.”

Now, Newsmax has learned, members of the RNC are expected to urge party leaders in individual states to launch similar campaigns to ban big money from “assisting” in election administration.

The official call for such a campaign is likely to be made at their meeting in Milwaukee one week before the national convention opens this summer, according to several RNC members.

South Carolina State Chair Drew McKissick said, “Wisconsin not only took a big step forward in having more secure elections but demonstrated that Republicans should use ballot questions on common sense issues like this to draw out our voters and put Democrats on the defensive. Everywhere we can, we should put election integrity on the ballot this November.”

California National Committeeman Shawn Steel agreed and cited the role of Zuckerberg in the 2020 election.

“Candidates triumph with huge turnouts — Zuckerberg understood this,” he said. “He orchestrated a labyrinth to funnel over $400 million into Democrat communities to significantly push up the vote for Joe Biden in battleground states. Zuckerberg was the most influential person in the 2020 presidential election and made a bold move. Fortunately, Wisconsin voters have made that practice illegal to interfere with federal elections. Hopefully, other states will do the same.”

In her book “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections,” author Mollie Hemingway documented how the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, an organization led by Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla, “gave more than $400 million to non-profit groups …. Most of those funds — colloquially called ‘Zuckerbucks’—were funneled through the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a group led by three Democrats with a long history of activism.”

“The couple also heavily funded the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a group run by a man who used to be the senior attorney at the left-wing People for the American Way,” she added. “That group also funneled Zuckerbucks to governmental entities.”

Now, at least in Wisconsin, Zuckerberg can no longer do this. Whether other states follow suit to ban Zuckerbucks remains to be seen.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.