Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein
Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire owners of business supply company Uline, heirs to the Schlitz brewing fortune, and major financial supporters of the Republican Party.
Biographies
Richard Uihlein was born to Schlitz beer founder descendant and noted conservative Edgar Uihlein and Lucia Ellis Uihlein. He graduated from Phillips Andover and from Stanford University with a BA in history. Until 1980, Uihlein worked in international sales for General Binding Corporation, a company his father co-founded. Uihlein's cousin is Lynde Bradley Uihlein.Richard's father, Edgar Uihlein, was a prominent conservative figure in the 1960s and 1970s. He sat on the John Birch Society's finance committee, donated to the presidential campaign of segregationist candidate George Wallace, and supported General Edwin Walker, who led an insurrection in response to the racial integration of the University of Mississippi.
Elizabeth Anne Uihlein was born to Robert Emerson Hallberg, an auto company executive, and Elizabeth Pierce Hallberg of Winnetka, Illinois. She had a sister, Katherine Hallberg, who died in 1997. She is the cousin of Martin Hanson, a Wisconsin environmentalist who fought for federal protection of Lake Superior's Apostle Islands.
The Uihleins have three children. The couple's primary residence is in Lake Forest, Illinois, but they own several homes and are noted part-time residents of Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.
Business activities
Uline
In 1980, with start-up funds from Richard's father, Elizabeth and Richard founded Uline, a shipping supplies company. The company expanded rapidly and is now one of the largest privately held U.S. companies; in 2014, Forbes estimated its value as between $700 million and $2 billion. As of 2020, the company had around 7,000 employees. Elizabeth Uihlein is the company's president and Richard is the CEO; their three children hold executive roles.EAU Holdings
Elizabeth and Richard own and operate a number of businesses in downtown Manitowish Waters under EAU Holdings Inc, a holding company advertised on Uline's website. Businesses owned by the entity include a gym, a restaurant, various lodgings, a coffee shop, a salon, a spa, and gift shops.Galectin Therapeutics
Richard Uihlein is the chairman of the board for Galectin Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotech company focusing on treatments for chronic liver disease and cancer. He is its largest individual stock holder.Political activities
Views and history
Richard
Richard 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. He is a staunch social and economic conservative, with views that are anti-union, anti-tax, and pro-deregulation. He has supported far-right candidates and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights as well as abortion rights. Richard Uihlein has been described as a person who "shuns the spotlight"; he rarely gives interviews.Elizabeth
Elizabeth has said her mother was a liberal and her father a conservative. She has said she held liberal beliefs in her early years.Like her husband, Elizabeth rarely gives interviews, but she frequently makes statements about her political views in a column that appears in the Uline catalog and on the Uline website. Past columns have addressed topics including "the danger of Chinese competition", "the negative health effects of marijuana use", and "the detriments of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy".
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Elizabeth Uihlein said the pandemic was "overhyped" and in November 2020 was an outspoken critic of stay-at-home directives issued to combat the spread of the virus.
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.
National politics
Richard Uihlein is the biggest donor to Women Speak Out PAC, a group seeking a federal abortion ban. He has also donated millions to Restoration PAC, according to which "all marriage is for one man and one woman for life". He has supported conservative groups and candidates including Ted Cruz, Roy Moore, The Club for Growth, and the Illinois Policy Institute. Uihlein has also been a major donor to Liberty Principles PAC, Americas PAC, and Scott Walker.2014 election cycle
In the 2014 election cycle, the Uihleins made at least $5 million in political contributions, mostly to right-wing PACs.2016 election cycle
The Uihleins gave $22 million in the 2016 election cycle. 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, contributing money to the pro-Trump "Great America PAC" and $500,000 to Trump's inauguration, which he attended. He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee.2018 election cycle
In the 2018 election cycle, Richard dramatically increased his political contributions, making $37.7 million in contributions to outside spending groups. His contributions include support for many Republican candidates in competitive primary races, such as Chris McDaniel. 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 Uihlein funded also supported Nicholson. They contributed $4 million to the Fair Courts America PAC.Donations to Roy Moore
Richard supported Roy Moore for U.S. Senate. The support began on September 8, 2017, before sexual misconduct allegations against Moore came to light, with a contribution of $50,000 to Moore's Proven Conservative PAC. On November 22, 2017, after multiple women, some of whom where underage at the time of the alleged offense, had come forward accusing Moore of sexual assault, Richard donated another $50,000 to the Proven Conservative PAC.Pay for play newspapers
From 2016 to 2018, a political action committee the Uihleins funded gave at least $646,000 to a new network of free newspapers and websites created by Brian Timpone that mimics local newspapers but offers pay-for-play articles to conservative clients.2020 election cycle
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.Uihlein was a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 United States Capitol attack. From 2015 to 2020, the Uihleins donated $4.3 million to Tea Party Patriots, a group that participated in the March to Save America rally that preceded the attack.
After it was reported that the Uihleins were a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 attack, Northwestern University reviewed its contract with Uline at a university donor's behest. Upon conclusion of the review, Northwestern continued its contract with the company.
In November 2020, the Uihleins announced to their company that they had contracted COVID-19 after media speculation that they had been infected during Trump's White House election result watch party. Journalists made this speculation after the Uihleins' personal jet flew to DC on the evening of the election and a string of COVID-19 infections befell known attendees. Elizabeth insisted that they had not attended Trump's party and had instead contracted it from a friend.
2022 election cycle
During the 2022 election cycle, they contributed to the U.S. Senate campaigns of Herschel Walker, Ron Johnson, and Adam Laxalt. Other politicians the Uihleins supported include Georgia representative Jody Hice and Texas representative Louie Gohmert.2024 election cycle
As of October 2024, Richard Uihlein had given nearly $59 million in 2024 to Restoration PAC, a leading pro-Trump super PAC that is active in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia.State politics
Richard is a significant supporter of the Foundation for Government Accountability, a think tank that has worked to relax child labor laws in 22 states.In September 2022, Richard donated $750,000 to help defeat a ballot question that would legalize recreational cannabis in Wisconsin.
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. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Elizabeth called upon Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature to push to remove Governor Tony Evers from office over the stay-at-home directives he issued.
Richard 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; Uihlein gave millions to Jeanne Ives, who challenged Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary.
During the 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election; Richard Uihlein gave more than $42 million to "People Who Play By The Rules PAC", a super PAC that ran attack ads against Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to boost the candidacy of Republican nominee Darren Bailey. The super PAC was operated by Republican operative and talk radio host Dan Proft. Richard Uihlein also gave $10 million directly to Bailey's campaign.
During Ohio's 2023 August special election cycle, Richard Uihlein donated $4 million to a PAC supporting Issue 1, an effort to require a 60% majority to pass citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. The measure was defeated by a 57% to 43% margin.
During the 2022 election cycle, the Uihleins were the largest donors to Doug Mastriano's 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign.
Between 2019 and 2020, Uihlein gave $250,000 to Allen West's campaign for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party against incumbent James Dickey.