Rick Gudex

Rick Gudex is a Republican State Senator representing Wisconsin's 18th District (Fond du Lac) as of 2012.

Campaign Funding from The American Federation for Children

In a brochure released after the 2012 elections, the ALEC-affiliated school choice proponent American Federation for Children (AFC) discussed how their campaign spending shaped electoral outcomes and consequent legislative support for school choice. In this document, AFC reveals that they spent more than $325,000 on Gudex in his race against incumbent Jessica King, which Gudex won by less than 600 votes. The document also shows that Wisconsin campaigns received more money from AFC than those in any other state, reaching a total of $2,392,000 for the state out of the $7,165,150 national total spending.

In a comment to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gudex claims that he was aware of AFC support during the election but was not aware how much was being spent in support of him. When asked about how the ads affected the outcome of the race, he said that he wasn't sure how much of a difference the funding made, but did say "I'm sure it didn't hurt me." Three months after taking office, Gudex joined two other Senate Republicans in thier April 2013 announcement that they would refuse to pass a budget which did not contain school voucher expansion.

History

In Wisconsin's 2012 elections, Gudex unseated incumbent Democrat Jessica King by a margin of less than 600 votes. The November election results shifted control of the Wisconsin State Senate from the Democrats to the Republicans.

Committees

In the 2013-2014 session, Senator Rick Gudex is assigned to the following committees:

• Committee on Economic Development and Local Government
• Committee on Education
• Committee on Government Operations, Public Works, and Telecommunications
• Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges
• Joint Committee on Information Policy and Technology