Wisconsin REALTORS® Association: Vetting Political Candidates on Real Estate Issues

Vetting Political Candidates on Real Estate Issues

 Joe Murray, WRA Director of Political and Governmental Affairs  |    November 04, 2024
Vetting

In October of every election year, each WRA member receives the WRA Voter Guide, a comprehensive list of all state and federal candidates endorsed by the WRA and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Most but not all candidates listed in the voter guide are incumbents running for reelection. In every election cycle, there are open seats due to retirements or incumbents running for another office.

The WRA decision-making process regarding which candidates to support varies depending on their status as an incumbent or a first-time candidate. In addition, both political parties covet and place enormous money into a certain number of highly competitive target seats. There are more competitive seats on the target list in 2024 due to the new legislative maps passed by the Wisconsin Legislature and signed into law earlier this year. So, the WRA vets candidates by analyzing three factors in every election.

Three elements of candidate analysis

Incumbents

The decision on which incumbents to support is fairly straightforward. Incumbents have a record on real estate-related issues, and the longer the incumbent has held office, the longer their voting record is. The WRA compiles a voting record of all legislative incumbents every two years prior to the November elections. The WRA is responsible for analyzing the voting record for state legislators, while NAR is responsible for analyzing voting records on members of the U.S. House and Senate. Once the voting record is compiled and recorded, the Wisconsin RPAC trustees as well as the NAR RPAC trustees take a formal position on which candidates to support. 

Open seats

The 2024 election cycle includes 25 open seats and one open congressional district in Wisconsin. With the open seats due to certain incumbents either retiring or running for higher office, WRA members and staff identify all candidates running in these districts and conduct candidate interviews to determine which candidates are most supportive of the real estate industry and property owners.

The interview process is simple but critically important to the WRA’s future legislative success. REALTOR® members and staff from all 26 legislative districts and one congressional district sit down with the candidates running in each district and discuss the candidates’ opinions on questions related to real estate. Once the interviews are complete, the local board within the respective legislative district decides which candidates to support and sends its recommendation to the state RPAC trustees for final approval. Once approved, these endorsed candidates receive RPAC and Direct Giver financial support, along with get-out-the-vote efforts to inform members of which candidates the WRA supports and why.

Targeted districts

In every election cycle, certain legislative districts are more politically competitive than others. Democrats and Republicans identify these districts, and both sides put larger human and financial resources into these targeted seats. Out of a total of 99 Wisconsin Assembly seats on the ballot this year, approximately 12 fall into the highly competitive category. In the Wisconsin Senate, 16 seats are on the ballot, and five will be truly competitive. In the most competitive districts, the WRA generally raises additional funds from Direct Giver contributors and provides greater financial support for candidates in tough, expensive elections.

Get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts

After the WRA identifies which candidates to support, it’s time to educate members about the endorsed candidates and encourage members to “get out and vote” for them. The WRA compiles a list of all candidates and produces the official WRA Voter Guide, which is mailed to all 17,000 members. The voter guide is a convenient, one-stop resource of WRA-supported candidates on the November ballot. Members are encouraged to support these candidates for state and federal office.

These candidates were selected to receive REALTOR® support based on real estate-related issues. The WRA’s recommendation is based on business and economic issues critical to homeowners, property owners and REALTORS® in Wisconsin. This is why we refer to WRA- and NAR-supported candidates as members of the “REALTOR® Party.”

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