| Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein | |
| Relatives: | Uihlein family |
| Children: | 3 |
Richard Ellis Uihlein (;[1] born 1945) and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and conservative donors.[2] Richard is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.[3]
Richard graduated from Stanford University with a BA in history in 1967.[4] A member of the Uihlein family, he is a descendant of the brewers of Schlitz beer.[5] [6] His great-grandfather was August Uihlein.[7]
Until 1980, Richard Uihlein worked in international sales for General Binding Corporation, a company co-founded by his father, Edgar Uihlein. That year, with start-up funds from his father, Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Uihlein founded Uline, a shipping supplies company; the couple continue to own the company.[8] [9] The company expanded rapidly and is now one of the largest U.S. privately held companies; in 2014, Forbes estimated a company value of between $700 million and $2 billion.[9] In 2020 Bloomberg estimated their net worth to be around $4 billion.[10]
As of 2020, the company had around 7,000 employees.[11] Liz Uihlein is the company's president;[12] the couple's four children are all executives at the company. Previously headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, the company moved to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, in 2010, in return for up to $18.6 million in state incentives. The couple lives in Lake Forest, Illinois; they also have a summer home in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.
The Uihlein family also owns EAU Holdings, a resort in northern Wisconsin. Richard Uihlein's cousin is Lynde Bradley Uihlein.[3]
Although an influential donor, Richard Uihlein has been described as a person who "shuns the spotlight" and the couple rarely gives interviews. Uihlein has been a Republican donor for decades, and increased his political giving after Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. He has been a longtime donor to Republicans who share his ultra-conservative views.[9] Richard is a staunch social and economic conservative, with views that are anti-union,[11] [12] [13] anti-tax,[11] [13] and pro-deregulation.[13] He has a history of supporting far-right[9] candidates, and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights as well as abortion.
Elizabeth Uihlein focuses her donations on the main GOP organizations, such as the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, and National Republican Congressional Committee.[14]
The Uihleins spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2011 Wisconsin Senate recall elections, in support of state senators facing recall over their support for legislation to end collective bargaining for public employees, and also backed litigation against public-employee unions, including Janus v. AFSCME.[12] He has supported conservative groups and candidates including Ted Cruz, Roy Moore, The Club for Growth, and the Illinois Policy Institute.[15] Uihlein is also a major donor to Liberty Principles PAC,[16] Americas PAC,[17] and Scott Walker.[18] While Uihlein spent $2.6 million in support of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in his successful 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election campaign, Uihlein broke with Rauner after he signed legislation in 2017 that expanded abortion coverage for women on Medicaid,[13] giving millions to Jeanne Ives, who challenged Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary.[13] [19]
In the 2014 election cycle, the Uihleins made at least $5 million in political contributions, mostly to right-wing PACs ($1.8 million to Liberty Principles PAC; $670,000 to Americas PAC, and slightly under $500,000 to Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund and affiliated super PAC).[9]
The Uihleins gave $22 million in the 2016 election cycle.[12] In the 2016 Republican primaries, Uihlein initially supported Scott Walker and Ted Cruz; after they both dropped out of the race, Uihlein backed Donald Trump,[12] contributing money to the pro-Trump "Great America PAC" and contributing $500,000 to Trump's inauguration,[13] which he attended.[12] He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee.[12] Liz Uihlein also subsequently became a "mega-donor" to Trump.[11]
From 2016 to 2018, a political action committee funded by the Uihleins gave at least $646,000 to a new network of free newspapers and websites, created by Brian Timpone, that mimic local newspapers but offer pay-for-play articles to conservative clients.[20] ProPublica reported that the Uihleins were 1 of 82 households that benefitted from a concession won by Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson, to whom they had been large donors.
In the 2018 election cycle, Richard dramatically increased his political contributions,[12] making $37.7 million in contributions to outside spending groups (the fourth largest donor to such groups).[21] The couple's contributions placed them on the tier of other Republican mega-donors, such as the Koch family, Adelson, and Mercer.[6] His contributions include support for many Republican candidates in competitive primary races,[12] such as Ives[12] [13] and Chris McDaniel.[12] [13] Also in 2018, Uihlein gave financial support to Kevin Nicholson, a one time long-shot Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin; eight super PACs funded by Uihlein also expressed support for Nicholson.[13] They contributed $4 million to the Fair Courts America PAC.[22] In 2019 - 2020, Uihlein gave $250,000 to Allen West in his campaign for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party against incumbent James Dickey.[21]
In the 2020 election cycle, the Uihleins and their company had, by April 2020, contributed $1.5 million to Trump's "America First Action" super PAC, and $20 million to other Republican groups.[11] [23] From 2015 to 2020, they donated $4.3 million (including $800,000 in October 2020) to Tea Party Patriots, a group that may have co-sponsored the March to Save America rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[24]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Liz Uihlein declared the pandemic "overhyped" and was an outspoken critic of stay-at-home directives issued to combat the spread of the virus, calling upon Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature to push to remove Governor Tony Evers from office over the directive he issued. In November 2020, the Uihleins announced to the company that they had contracted COVID.[25] [26]
Uihlein was a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 attack on the Capitol.[27] Uihlein is also the biggest donor to Women Speak Out PAC, a group seeking a federal abortion ban. Uihlein has also donated millions to Restoration PAC, which promotes "all marriage is for one man and one woman for life."
In columns in the company catalog, Liz Uihlein frequently writes on the couple's political views, ranging from "the danger of Chinese competition, the negative health effects of marijuana use and the detriments of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy."[11]
During the 2022 midterm elections, Richard Uihlein contributed over $80.7 million to Republicans and Republican aligned groups.[28] This included major spending in the 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election; Richard Uihlein gave more than $42 million to "People Who Play By The Rules PAC",[29] Web site: People Who Play By The Rules PAC. Center for Illinois Politics. a super PAC that ran attack ads against Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to boost the candidacy of his opponent, Republican nominee Darren Bailey.[29] [30] The super PAC was operated by Republican operative and talk radio host Dan Proft.[30] Richard Uihlein also gave $10 million directly to Bailey's campaign.[30]
During the 2022 election cycle, the Uihleins were also the largest donors to Doug Mastriano's 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign,[31] and also contributed to Herschel Walker's Senate campaign, Ron Johnson and Adam Laxalt.[32] Other politicians supported by the Uihleins include Georgia representative Jody Hice and Texas representative Louie Gohmert.[33]
During Ohio's 2023 August special election cycle, Richard Uihlein donated $4 million to a PAC supporting Issue 1 - an effort to require 60% of the vote to pass a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment, as opposed to Ohio's current 50% requirement, which has been in place since 1912.[34] The measure was "resoundingly rejected" by a large majority of Ohio voters.[35]
The couple also finances conservative think tanks and nonprofits such as the Conservative Partnership Institute, Turning Point USA, Sons of Liberty, and the Center for Security Policy,[36] Liberty Justice Center, and Think Freely Media.[37] Through the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, the couple made $40 million in grants between 2013 and 2016 to organizations such as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Media Research Center, the Leadership Institute, and the Philanthropy Roundtable. The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation has also donated to the American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, the Institute for Free Speech, and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute through the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation. In 2015 and 2016, they donated $4 million to the Illinois Policy Institute.[38]