WASHINGTON — Since announcing his bid for U.S. Senate, Alex Lasry has spent the past year reintroducing himself.
“We're actually building these relationships with voters,” Lasry said. “We don't want to just go one place for a photo op. We want to go places a number of times to really develop that trust in that relationship. ”
As an executive of the Milwaukee Bucks, you’d think his name would be fresh on the minds of wisconsinites less than a year after the team’s NBA championship. But Lasry, like the rest of the crowded Democratic primary field, is still not well known among all registered voters according to a recent poll from Marquette Law School.
“Well, the Bucks are pretty prominent in the state, but it doesn't mean that the executives in the organization are equally well known,” Charles Franklin, the director of the Marquette Law School Poll said. “They don't score very many points after all.”
His solution is putting in more face time with voters.
“And that's what we've been doing with our direct mail, our TV ads, our digital ads and travel,” Lasry said. “We're making sure that we're giving a consistent message to the people of Wisconsin that we're going to be able to deliver for them.”
Lasry’s full court press comes at a price. He’s been outspending the field, thanks to his personal fortune, which he has used to fuel his campaign. According to the federal elections commission, Lasry’s has personally spent $2.35 million. Some of his opponents say that evokes shades of Republican Ron Johnson’s 2010 strategy when he first won the seat.
“Well, we've raised more money than any candidate in this race so far and we've said from the beginning that this is going to be a campaign that is funded by grassroots donors and by the people of Wisconsin,” Lasry said. “And I'm also going to make sure that I invest because the one thing I think we all agree with, is that we want to make sure that the Republicans aren't going to outgun us on resources. And so, I believe that if we're able to get our message out, if we're able to tell voters why they should vote for us, not why they shouldn't vote for someone else, but why they should vote for us, this is an election we can win.”
That’s a belief former Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl had in 1988 when he won his Senate race. He had deep pockets but serving as the state’s Democratic Party chair for a few years proved he also had deeper roots in Wisconsin.
“Someone in Lasry's case, who has not run for office before, he needs to introduce himself to voters,” Franklin said. “And if he's got the money to do that, which he clearly has, it can have some effect.”
While not as visible as his opponents, Lasry’s not new to politics. As the Milwaukee Host Committee’s finance chair, he was instrumental in the Democrats choosing the city for their 2020 National Convention, although the gathering then became virtual because of the pandemic. He also worked as an assistant in the Obama White House.“So, I've actually worked in some of the highest levels of politics,” Lasry said. “But not being a politician, I think, is actually a strength. I think what people are looking for are non-politicians who can go and actually deliver.”
Republicans say he is a relative newcomer to both politics and Wisconsin. Lasry was born and raised in New York and moved to Wisconsin in 2014.
“Alex Lasry is a New York trust fund baby who wants to buy Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat,” Anna Kelly, Communications Director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin wrote in part in a statement to Spectrum News.
Lasry says that criticism is unfair as he didn’t have a choice of where he was born.
“But I did have a choice of where I was going to live,” he said. “And when I had a choice of where to live, I've lived the vast majority of my adult life — other than my time at the White House — here in Wisconsin.”
He says that’s why face time ranks high in his campaigning. He’s learning from voter what’s at stake in this election and hopes to take those lessons to Capitol Hill next year.
“What voters are wanting is someone who's actually going to represent the state of Wisconsin, and not just be their voice and an advocate, but actually be someone who's going to deliver for them in Washington,” he said. “It's why Tammy [Baldwin] is so popular here. And I think people want to make sure that we're able to bring a partner for Tammy Baldwin and to deliver some real change and real results for the people of Wisconsin.”