Michael Alfonso accepted thousands from donors with business before his father-in-law, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy

Following another deadline for campaign finance reporting, it once again became clear that a Wisconsin congressional candidate is being bankrolled by donors with business before his father-in-law.

Michael Alfonso, the 26-year-old Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, is married to the daughter of Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation, and previous occupant of the House seat.

According to Politico, “Wisconsin congressional candidate Michael Alfonso’s campaign raked in donations from dozens of lobbyists and industry executives in the first quarter of the year, and many of them seem to have one thing in common: they stand to profit from currying favor with Alfonso’s father-in-law, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. — According to Federal Election Commission data reviewed by PI, at least one in four individual donors who contributed to Alfonso’s campaign this quarter are tied to companies that work directly or indirectly with the Trump administration and Duffy’s Transportation Department. The campaign’s donor rolls include the CEOs of passenger rail companies Brightline and Dreamstar, top executives at aviation fuel provider AEG Fuels, and Deborah Kenney, the founder and CEO of AI-powered carpooling app Ride Pair.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Alfonso has received campaign contributions from entities within his father-in-law’s purview at the Transportation Department, including $5,000 from Delta Air Lines PAC, $2,500 from Southwest Airlines PAC, $2,000 from Lockheed Martin Corporation Employees’ PAC and $1,000 from the U.S. Travel Association PAC.”

In July, Duffy’s campaign gave $250,000 to Northwoods Future PAC, the super PAC backing Alfonso, according to campaign finance records.

According to the Associated Press, “A super political action committee backing Alfonso has received $1 million from Duffy’s old congressional account and another $1 million from Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, whose shipping and packaging business, Uline, is based in Wisconsin.”

Between July and September 2026, Alfonso and his joint fundraising committee, Alfonso Victory, accepted almost $60,000 from transportation-linked donors, several with business before his father-in-law’s department.

On Aug. 5, Alfonso received a $5,000 donation from Boeing’s PAC just two days after the FAA authorized Boeing to begin production of the 737 MAX-7, according to campaign finance records.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration statement, “Following almost a decade of extensive review, the FAA has issued an amended type certificate and updated Production Limitation Record for the Boeing 737 MAX-7. The approval reflects years of sustained work to resolve complex technical issues and complete a thorough review of the airplane’s design and supporting safety analyses. Throughout the process, the FAA performed or directly reviewed significant work involving flight controls, system safety assessments, human factors, flightcrew alerting, and other novel, complex, or safety-critical areas, while also requiring testing, design changes, and additional analysis where necessary. […] The amended type certificate confirms the aircraft complies with all applicable design and safety requirements, and the updated Production Limitation Record authorizes Boeing to begin production of the aircraft.”

On Aug. 10, Alfonso received $2,000 from the Trucking PAC of the American Trucking Associations, according to campaign finance records. The group previously asked Duffy’s department to help regulate training of young drivers.

According to campaign finance records, on Sept. 30, Alfonso received $5,000 from the Automotive Free International Trade PAC, the same day Duffy’s Department of Transportation finalized a rollback of fuel economy standards.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized a rule lowering fuel economy requirements. According to the Federal Register, “NHTSA estimates that this final rule would increase the eventual average of manufacturers’ CAFE requirements to about 34.9 mpg by MY 2031 rather than an average of about 49.3 mpg under the No-Action Alternative.”

The National Automobile Dealers Association commended President Donald Trump’s administration for its proposed reset of fuel economy standards.

“The comprehensive reset of CAFE standards proposed today represents a milestone in that effort, and we commend the Trump Administration for its leadership on the issue,” the group said in a statement.

Also, Lawrence Meehan, a transportation lobbyist for Hermeus Corp., donated to Alfonso’s joint fundraising committee while lobbying the Department of Transportation and the FAA.

According to Hermeus Corp.’s lobbying disclosure report, the company “Lobbied for FAA to grant waiver for an experimental drone to fly in the national airspace. Lobbied to allow a large experimental drone to fly greater than 12 NM from the coast of the United States”

Earlier this year, the FAA granted Heremus authorization to fly faster than the speed of sound and to exceed Mach 1.

Alfonso had faced scrutiny within his own party. First, for benefiting from nepotism. These records showing donations from people before his father-in-law’s department certainly doesn’t help.

Alfonso accepted some questionable donations in the past, including from the contractor behind the disastrous Reflecting Pool debacle in Washington, D.C.

Also, Alfonso is prone to saying one thing but campaigning on another. While the party attempted to show unity with Trump during its first-ever midterm convention, Alfonso was caught on a hot mic criticizing those that skipped it, like Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany. He denied he was talking about Tiffany.

Alfonso is running against Fred Clark, who seeks becoming the first Democrat to hold the seat in 15 years.

Alfonso’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.