Conservative billionaire drops millions on anti-ERA ads

A conservative megadonor has made a late-game contribution to efforts opposing a ballot measure meant to enshrine abortion rights and other civil rights protections in the state constitution, according to new financial disclosures. 

Richard Uihlein, the billionaire CEO of shipping company Uline who’s known for contributing to right-wing causes, gave the Vote NO on Prop One Committee a whopping $6.5 million on Oct. 18, just a week before the start of early voting. Three days later, the committee dropped $4.5 million on television ads. The New York Post was the first to report on the new ad campaign, though the specific size of the ad buy was not reported until newly filed financial disclosures came out on Friday. The ad focused on immigration, a hot topic this election cycle, and claimed that the proposed state constitutional amendment could lead to noncitizen voting. Proponents of the measure vehemently deny that the amendment would have any effect on noncitizen voting.

Uihlein, who has given generously anti-abortion causes in the past as well, was one of just five donors to give to the committee, which registered with the state Board of Elections a month ago and only had activity to report beginning on Oct. 11. Three of the other donors are well-known wealthy conservatives. Tom Tisch, a millionaire who is part of the billionaire Tisch family, gave the committee $1 million, while billionaire businessman Warren Stephens gave $500,000 and hedge fund manager Sean Fieler contributed $25,000. The final contributor, who does not appear to be a noted conservative donor, gave just $100.

This isn’t the first time that a wealthy conservative billionaire almost single-handedly bankrolled a campaign against Democratic-backed ballot measures with a last-minute donation. Cosmetics mogul Ronald Lauder provided millions in last-minute contributions to the state Conservative Party to fund ads opposing measures in 2021 that would have expanded absentee voting and tweaked the redistricting process. The measures failed at the time, and Democrats were criticized for failing to do enough to promote their priorities on the ballot. 

Up until now, the main group associated with opposition to Prop 1, which would enshrine the Equal Rights Amendment into the state constitution, has been the Coalition to Protect Kids. But that group’s fundraising and spending was measured in the low six figures, while the Vote NO on Prop One Committee is now dropping millions against the amendment. “The Coalition is grateful for all the help it can get,” said Coalition to Protect Kids spokesperson Bill O’Reilly. “Prop 1 is a Pandora's Box that has to be stopped. The more New Yorkers are educated about it, the more they are likely to oppose it.” Until now, New Yorkers for Equal Rights – the main pro-Prop 1 group, which has faced scrutiny over how it has spent its money – had outraised and outspent opponents of the amendment. 

A spokesperson for New Yorkers for Equal Rights claimed that the campaign has so far spent $3.1 million on voter outreach such as mail, television ads and messages on streaming or digital platforms. Not all of that spending has yet appeared in filings. Politico New York reported on Thursday that New Yorkers for Equal Rights had spent just $320,000 on ads and other direct voter outreach as of the start of October, including through in-kind donations. New filings posted on Friday show that the campaign spent another $560,000 in the past few weeks on digital ads and campaign literature. The spokesperson said that the $3.1 million sum includes just over $2 million spent directly by New Yorkers for Equal Rights (the rest of which will appear on future disclosures) and an additional $970,000 expenditure from the state Democratic Party directed by the campaign.

 “We are spending $3.1 million (and counting) on paid ads, and are using the full force of our organizing muscle on doors, on the phones and over text, in every corner of the state,” said campaign coordinator Sasha Ahuja. “But Uihlein and the Vote NO on Prop One Committee are pumping millions upon millions of dollars in lies into our state to distract and divide New York voters from what’s actually on the ballot: protecting abortion and preventing government discrimination.”