Alex Lasry Taps Wall Street to Out-Raise Wisconsin Senate Rivals

(Bloomberg) -- Alex Lasry raised more than $1 million for his 2022 bid to unseat Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, topping the Republican incumbent and all the Democratic primary opponents in the first quarter, with help from the worlds of sports, entertainment and Wall Street.

Lasry, the senior vice president of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team co-owned by his father, Avenue Capital’s Marc Lasry, received maximum donations for the primary from York Capital Management’s Jamie Dinan, LionTree’s Aryeh Bourkoff, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital LLC, Oaktree Capital’s Bruce Karsh, and Jason Mudrick of Mudrick Capital Management. All but Dinan chipped in another $2,900 for the general election.

His father and mother, Cathy Lasry, each gave $5,800, half of which would have to go to a general election, as did his aunt, Avenue Capital co-founder Sonia Gardner, and other family members.

Lasry’s primary opponents did not fare as well. Tom Nelson, county executive of Outagamie County and a former state legislator, raised $218,840, and Gillian Battino, a radiologist, raised just $7,016 and borrowed $55,000 more. State treasurer Sarah Godlewski entered the race after the close of the second quarter.

Johnson, who has yet to announce whether he will seek a third term, took in $545,337 in the first quarter, and ended March with $1 million cash on hand. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Johnson, and urged him to seek re-election. “He has no idea how popular he is,” Trump said in an April 8 statement. “Run, Ron, run!”

Basketball executives and coaches also donated $2,900 to Lasry, including Chicago Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf, Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd. Bucks head coach Michael Budenholzer gave $5,800, while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gave $1,000.

Detroit Lions defensive end Romeo Okwara and former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig gave $2,900 while pro poker player Phil Hellmuth gave $5,800.

Brian Koppelman, co-creator of the Showtime series “Billions” and record producer Irv Lorenzo, better known as Irv Gotti, also maxed out.

Lasry also loaned his campaign $50,000. He ended the first quarter with $773,193 in the bank.

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