RACINE, Wis. — Racine County Eye, which has no affiliation whatsoever with Kenosha County Eye, is a Racine-based blog founded in 2013 by former Kenosha News employee Denise Lockwood (D). The publication has launched an aggressive fundraising campaign for its election coverage, sending multiple donation solicitations to readers while questions remain unanswered about an earlier emergency appeal for operating funds.
As previously reported by Kenosha County Eye, Lockwood sent a fundraising email in March warning that the blog needed to raise $5,000 within 72 hours and $20,000 by April 30. The appeal described the situation as an emergency but provided few details regarding the cause of the financial shortfall.
Kenosha County Eye later submitted questions asking whether those goals were met, whether the publication’s finances had stabilized, and whether its business model remained sustainable. No response was received. Now, new fundraising emails obtained by Kenosha County Eye show Lockwood continuing to ask readers for financial support through a separate election-related fundraising campaign.
The campaign, titled “Election 2026 Funding,” seeks to raise $15,000 for voter guides, election explainers, candidate interviews, election-night reporting, and related election coverage. As of Wednesday, the campaign reported raising $1,658 from 20 donors since launching on February 1.
In a June 17 fundraising email, Lockwood told readers that election seasons are when “misinformation spreads fastest” and promoted Racine County Eye’s reporting standards before asking recipients to make a tax-deductible donation. Three days later, another fundraising email urged readers to contribute, arguing that a donation could be “the difference between your neighbors finding misinformation or the truth before they head to vote.”
Then, on June 24, Lockwood sent yet another appeal titled “The lies are free,” telling readers that misinformation is easy to produce and that “real journalism” requires financial support. The email again requested tax-deductible donations.
The fundraising page describes the project as supporting “nonpartisan” voter guides and election explainers. It further states that donations are tax-deductible through a fiscal sponsorship arrangement involving Report for America and The GroundTruth Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The arrangement appears lawful on its face. However, some readers have questioned whether a publication that many perceive as politically left-leaning should be marketed as nonpartisan while soliciting tax-deductible donations for election coverage.
Lockwood has publicly aligned herself with Democratic and progressive causes over the years, and critics have frequently accused Racine County Eye of presenting news through a liberal lens. The publication, meanwhile, maintains that its voter guides and election reporting are nonpartisan and that donors have no influence over editorial decisions.
The issue is not necessarily whether the fundraising structure is legal. Rather, it is whether readers accept the claim that the publication’s election coverage is politically neutral.
That question becomes particularly relevant when the same publication is repeatedly asking readers to financially support election reporting while characterizing competing information sources as misinformation and presenting itself as a trusted alternative.
The situation also stands in contrast to Kenosha County Eye, which continues to add paid subscribers weekly and has only limited advertising inventory remaining. Rather than relying on tax-deductible fundraising campaigns, Kenosha County Eye has largely grown through subscriber support and commercial advertising.
As the donation requests continue arriving in readers’ inboxes, key questions remain unanswered. Did Racine County Eye meet the emergency fundraising goals it publicly announced? Is the publication financially stable? And if its election coverage is as widely trusted as the fundraising emails suggest, why has it become necessary to repeatedly solicit donations from readers?
For now, the fundraising campaign continues. The answers do not.
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15 Responses
Scammer
Looks like the free market will decide
Democrats….very left leaning Democrats in Racine do a great job of finding a way to influence each and every voter and that’s why liberals slowly move West of Highway 31 winning elections. Republicans asleep at the wheel?—maybe.
What! No Grants from USAID?
Republicans in Racine County have been disappointing. Republicans have typically been the party of transparency, family values, and personal/property rights. Racine tossed that out the window before the rest of the area.
The (R) majority Mt. Pleasant Village Board has a long history of abusing eminent domain. They are the ones who forced residents to sell their personal property for the FoxConn project, threating blight and eminent domain if they didn’t sell willingly.
Racine County is home to Pat Hanson, who still cosplays as a Republican.
Racine County has Van Waangard, who was supportive of mask mandates and shutdowns, and Robin Vos, who is the OG Wisconsin RINO.
Racine County GOP was one of the originals to deny, and even refund, memberships to people who disagreed with them at all.
For a long time, I thought that Christ Schmaling was a solid sheriff, but the Preston Kite and Emil Ortiz situations have opened my eyes to his reality— his support of Madrigal is just more proof of his lack of integrity.
Racine is just disappointing and disgusting. I can’t wait for the Madrigal supporters to put their signs out so at least the sickos will publicly out themselves.
The Democrat running for Racine Sheriff is going to be the first Democrat I’ve ever voted for. Whomever the Democrat challenging Steil is, will be the second. I would rather vote for a non-incumbent democrat than any of these gross establishment candidates. I may even vote for Neubauer this time around, because Paulick is part of the Mt. Pleasant Data Center Cheer Squad.
Racine😤No reason to go there☠️
The only good thing about Racine is that we don’t have Sam or Binger’s boyfriend.
I worked with Lockwood at the Kenosha News. Her reporting was always far left with no room for impartiality. Regarding those fundraising letters — I have received at least 10 of them in the past few months, with the latest arriving yesterday. I do not trust her at all.
got yet another one today!
Her teeth are clip-ins, purchased online.
Cripes…..had to look it up, and yeah, available at Walmart. “Temptooth #1 Seller Trusted Patented Temporary Tooth Replacement Product”
I tune in the Racine County Eye almost daily for one main reason, they have an awesome Obituary column,
Being critical is not allowed if you want to be favored by Racine’s Mayor and his minions to vote as directed.
Great example of things go bad under socialist mayors……..48th annual LightHouse Run billed as one of Wisconsin’s premier events.
So what happens with the finish line in sight…….Someone raises the bridge. Not once, but twice.
Yeah, Cory Mason’s Racine…’Ya just can’t make this stuff up.
https://cbs58.com/news/race-organizers-runners-frustrated-after-racine-drawbridge-raises-interrupting-weekend-race
Scam! She must need gas money!
She’d have more money if she eased off the bon-bons.