Multiple of Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s past campaign finance reports also contain duplicate or repeat donations, although fewer in number than the duplicates that are causing controversy in her 2026 report, according to a Wisconsin Right Now review of Rodriguez’s reports in the state system. Furthermore, in contrast to the 2025 report, Sara Rodriguez’s own name appears on the candidate signature line certifying several of the past reports with duplicates, attesting that the numbers were “true, correct and complete.”
Some of the duplicates are for very small amounts (even a dollar or two), but others are for $1,000, $100, $250 and so on, and one was a $2,500 PAC donation from a firefighter association. There were even a couple of triplicates. In each case, the duplicates or triplicates list the same donor name, date, address, and donation amount without the year-to-date total changing (you can see screenshots of all of them below). A couple of the bigger donations have a middle initial in one and not in the second. Rodriguez’s January 2023 report, with her name on the candidate signature line, contains the duplicate contribution from the PAC. The report indicates both amounts were included in the “grand total.”
Rodriguez’s name appears on the certification line for that report, albeit her campaign’s name of “Sara Rodriguez For Wisconsin.” But it’s listed under “signature of candidate or treasurer.” The controversial 2026 report only contains treasurer Jacqueline Boynton’s name.
Could there be some plausible explanation for each duplicate or triplicate in the old reports? If so, Rodriguez’s campaign isn’t saying. We sent her campaign an email asking for an explanation but did not receive a response despite giving her six hours to respond. Here’s an example of a duplicate in an old report:
Of course, it’s possible the individuals and PAC chose to make duplicate donations for the same amount on the same day.
We spoke to a number of people who deal frequently with campaign finances reports to try to glean other possible explanations.
They told us that it would be unusual for someone to purposely make duplicate donations in larger amounts on the same day, but that could be an explanation for some of the smaller duplicates. Sometimes websites that solicit donations follow a donation by asking people if they want to double their amount, which could explain some of them, they said. Some of the experts also said that the new state campaign finance website database might sometimes produce duplicates in error, but others said that was not likely to be the culprit when it comes to the PDFs of the reports, which is solely what we downloaded and reviewed. And, of course, there could be clerical errors.
We are not explaining why there are duplicates, as that’s not clear, but we are documenting which ones exist. Why does it matter? It raises questions because duplicates in Rodriguez’s 2026 report have become a massive campaign issue – and she made them one in a press conference.
Of the 2026 report causing all of the hue and cry, reporter Jason Calvi wrote, “I’ve found 60+ repeat entries so far in Sara Rodriguez’s January filing, which claim the same person made the same donation on the same day. The entries differ in zip code (one uses 5, the other 9 digits) or entries use/don’t use a middle initial or an extra space.” The dollar amount of the duplicates in the 2026 report is much higher. In the past reports, there were a couple where the only difference was a middle initial in one and none in the other; however, most of the duplicates (and triplicates) are exactly the same.
Duplicates Cause Controversy
More duplicates certainly raises questions of a potential pattern of issues since Rodriguez herself blamed “duplicates” in part for her dramatic campaign meltdown over what she dubbed inaccuracies in her 2026 report. She also tried to blame her fired campaign manager, Kara Spencer, for it all, whose name doesn’t appear on the recent report (but appears on a couple of the past ones). A treasurer, Jacqueline Boynton’s, name, does appear on the 2026 report, but the campaign told reporters she was just a volunteer “figurehead” not involved in daily campaign finance operations. Spencer has not yet commented on the accusations that Rodriguez lodged against her publicly.
The past reports with duplicates contained a certification line with a mixture of the names of Boynton, Spencer (but only in a couple), a third woman, and Rodriguez herself.
Earlier this week, Rodriguez, the lieutenant governor running as a Democrat for governor, sensationally admitted that her campaign has hundreds of thousands of dollars less than she thought due to errors in her 2026 report.
In a press conference, Rodriguez, who said she wasn’t entirely sure how much money she’s actually got, indicated she has at least $200,000 cash on hand, and she said the problems arose from duplicates and unpaid expenses. Various news media outlets then detailed numerous duplicates in Rodriguez’s 2026 report. Rodriguez admitted she doesn’t have the $1 million for an ad buy that she announced in a press release just days before.
Sara Rodriguez’ Past Reports
We also found that it was fairly common for Rodriguez’s past reports to also be amended, although it appeared that they generally were amended to add small details to entries, such as a fuller address or donor occupation. We did not count any duplicates where the campaign had indicated they were amended, and there were many of those too.
Here are the screenshots of the duplicates we found:
2020 Fall General
When you click on the zip file, it says file not found, and itemized contributions aren’t on the form that does load. The website database has contributions listed, but we are only using the PDFs to reduce the possibility of website error, so we will skip this one.
2020 July Continuing
In 2020, Spencer’s name appears on the line for signature of candidate or treasurer, certifying the reports were true, correct and complete. There is only one duplicate in that report, and it’s for an exceptionally small amount (not counted the entries that were just amended to add more details.)
2020 Fall Primary
Spencer also signed on the “signature of candidate or treasurer” line. No duplicates were found that weren’t amended.
2020 September Report
No duplicate (single donation).
2021 January Continuing – 72 hour
Just a few donations listed. No duplicates.
2021 January Continuing
Julianna Gaffner is listed as the treasurer and Kara Spencer is listed under candidate signature/treasurer.
These are the duplicates:
September 2022 72 hour
Just has a loan from Rodriguez.
September 2022
Boynton and Rodriguez signed it. These are the duplicates:
July Continuing 2022
These are the duplicates:
Rodriguez reported raising $203,258.07 in the July Continuing 2022 report, which includes a $125,000 loan from herself. The report contains many other duplicates, but those are flagged as amended; we didn’t count any duplicates listed as amended. Boynton has declined to comment to the news media, directing questions to the Rodriguez campaign.
2022 Fall Pre-Primary
Signed by both Boynton and Rodriguez.
No duplicates.
2022 Fall
Both Boynton and Rodriguez signed it.
Note: Francesca Hong donated $100 to Rodriguez this year (it wasn’t a dupe, though.) Here are the duplicates:
January 2023 Continuing
Boynton and Rodriguez signed it.
These are the duplicates:
This one appears to be the same person but one entry added a middle initial. It’s unclear why the year to date column only increased by $500.
July 2023 Continuing
Boynton and Rodriguez signed it.
There is a duplicate.
January Continuing 2024
Boynton and Rodriguez signed it.
It contains two duplicates, one for a very small amount.
July Continuing 2024
Boynton is listed on the treasurer line, and Spencer on the treasurer or candidate line. This report contains a duplicate:
September 2024
Boynton is listed on the treasurer line, and Spencer on the treasurer or candidate line.
No duplicates.
January 2025 Continuing
Boynton is listed on the treasurer line, and Spencer on the treasurer or candidate line.
There aren’t any duplicates. There are a lot of expenses listed as “amend: new.”
July 2025 Continuing
Boynton is listed on the treasurer line, and Spencer on the treasurer or candidate line. There were no duplicates.
Spencer was paid a $5,000 consulting fee on 1/7/25; 1/23/25; $1,750 on 2/4; and $4,321 on 6/25.
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