# Dick Uihlein The most prolific funder of Republican state-level and dark money infrastructure in the country — and the man whose cardboard boxes fund election denial. Richard "Dick" Uihlein, co-founder and CEO of Uline with wife Liz, has spent **$143.5M in the 2024 cycle alone** and an estimated $350M+ lifetime on Republican candidates, PACs, and dark money networks. His political operation centers on [[Restoration PAC]] ($144M+ since 2015), [[Club for Growth]] ($69M+ since 2010), and a constellation of vehicles targeting judicial races, school choice, and election-denial infrastructure. PBS Wisconsin's framing captures it: "That cardboard box in your home is fueling election denial." ## Background Born 1945, Lake Forest, Illinois. Descendant of August Uihlein, a key figure in the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company (once America's largest brewer). BA in History from Stanford, 1967. Worked in international sales at General Binding Corporation (co-founded by his father) until 1980, when he and Liz co-founded Uline from their basement in Lake Forest with a single product: the H-101 carton sizer. Uline is now headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin — North America's largest distributor of shipping, packaging, and industrial supplies. Over 42,000 products, 9,000+ employees, and an estimated $8B in revenue as of 2024 (up from $6.5B in 2020, driven by the e-commerce boom). The Uihleins are worth approximately $5.9B combined (Forbes 2025, No. 239 on the Forbes 400) or roughly $6.8B each per early 2026 estimates. ## Liz Uihlein Elizabeth "Liz" Uihlein is Uline's president and Dick's co-equal political partner. She campaigned vocally against COVID-19 shutdowns and required Uline workers to return to offices before vaccines were available. Both she and Dick contracted COVID-19 after attending the White House election night party in November 2020. She publicly declared "We back Trump" in March 2024. ## Political Spending The $210M lifetime figure cited in earlier versions of this page is now a significant undercount. The 2024 cycle alone was $143.5M. A conservative reconstruction of known spending exceeds $350M lifetime. **Restoration PAC / [[Restoration of America]] PAC:** The primary Uihlein vehicle, run by right-wing operative Doug Truax. **$144.2M since 2015**, including $76.2M in the 2024 cycle alone and $15.3M more in the second half of 2025. The earlier "$66M+" figure significantly understated the total. In 2026, Restoration of America is supporting Republican [[Nate Morris]] for the Kentucky Senate seat with $1.7M in TV ads. **[[Club for Growth]] / Club for Growth Action:** **$69,250,680 since 2010** (per Influence Watch). In the 2024 cycle, $10.3M to Club for Growth Action by mid-April, $16M total by cycle end. In October 2025, Restoration of America PAC transferred $2.5M to Club for Growth. **Americas PAC:** Longtime primary funder — Uihlein provides the majority of funding for this PAC, which targets Hispanic and Black communities with conservative radio ads in purple states. $850K in H2 2025 alone, accounting for 98.5% of that PAC's receipts. **[[Fair Courts America]]:** $3.5M+ in the 2026 cycle. Spent $3.9M attacking Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford (who won 55%–45% over Brad Schimel in the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history). **American Principles Project PAC:** $1.9M in H2 2025 — two-thirds of that PAC's total fundraising. ## Election Denial Funding This is the dimension that separates [[the Uihleins]] from merely large donors. Per the [[Brennan Center]], the Uihleins donated almost **$63M to candidates and PACs that rejected the 2020 presidential election results**, contributing to **34 of 147 Republicans** who voted to overturn Biden's victory. **[[Tea Party Patriots]]:** More than **$4M** from the Uihleins. Tea Party Patriots co-organized the January 6 "[[Stop the Steal]]" rally at the Ellipse — one of the groups listed on the "March to Save America" website alongside Stop the Steal, [[Turning Point USA]] Action, and [[Women for America First]]. **[[True the Vote]]:** Part of the Uihlein dark money constellation per OpenSecrets and ProPublica investigations. The broader Uihlein network includes Voter Reference Foundation (a 501(c)(4) that promotes disputed election data), Restoration of America Foundation, and Fair Courts America — all connected to Doug Truax. **[[Turning Point USA]]:** Uihlein foundation funding supports [[Charlie Kirk]]'s organization, which claimed to have sent "80+ buses" to the January 6 rally. ## Koch-Adjacent Networks The Uihleins fund [[Americans for Prosperity]] and share contractors with the [[Koch Network]] (including the i360 data operation), but they are generally considered an independent power center — sometimes competing with, sometimes complementing Koch-aligned operations. Their foundation's largest charitable gifts went to the Illinois Policy Institute (over $4M in 2015–2016 alone). Other foundation recipients include the Institute for Free Speech, the Leadership Institute, and the [[Media Research Center]]. ## Wisconsin The Uihleins are the most consequential political donors in Wisconsin. They are major funders of Senator [[Ron Johnson]], who inserted a pass-through tax deduction into the 2017 Trump tax overhaul that directly benefited the Uihleins as owners of a privately held company. They have funded conservative candidates and attack ads in Wisconsin Supreme Court races (2023 and 2025) and contributed $1M to the College Republicans of Wisconsin. ## 2026: Minnesota governor The Uihleins' [[Restoration of America]] PAC supplied more than $13M of the $14.1M raised by **Restore Sanity**, the outside PAC backing Republican [[Lisa Demuth]] in [[MN-Gov-2026]]. $10M of that arrived in the four weeks before Sept 23, 2026. Demuth's own campaign had raised about $2.6M. Reformer reports the couple has given about $70M to GOP candidates and causes this cycle (Minnesota Reformer, Sept 23, 2026; CBS Minnesota, Sept 7, 2026). ## See Also - [[Club for Growth]] — $69M+ lifetime recipient, ideological anchor - [[Tea Party Patriots]] — $4M+ recipient, co-organized Jan 6 rally - [[True the Vote]] — Election denial network - [[Americans for Prosperity]] — Koch-adjacent overlap - [[Turning Point USA]] — Youth pipeline, Jan 6 bus connection - [[Tim Mellon]] — Comparable mega-donor ($151.5M to [[MAGA Inc]] in 2024) - [[Jeff Yass]] — Club for Growth co-funder, [[School Freedom Fund]] backer - [[Ron Johnson]] — Key Wisconsin beneficiary - [[Donald Trump]] — Principal beneficiary of Uihlein-funded ecosystem - [[January 6 Capitol Attack]] — Downstream event of Uihlein-funded infrastructure