Trump mega-donors pause Wisconsin development project, citing economic uncertainty

Uline, a business and shipping supplies company owned by billionaire Trump supporters Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, is pausing the construction of a new distribution facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin, citing economic uncertainty.

The construction pause comes in a key battleground state, where Trump won in 2016 and 2024, but lost to Biden in 2020.

An official with Uline recently asked Kenosha’s city planning commission for an extension of their conditional use permit for the more than 1m sq ft facility in Kenosha.

The request cited the pause is “due to current economic conditions and available space within Uline’s existing network” and states construction will be paused until 2027 or later.

“I don’t think it’s any secret there’s unsettlement in the economy right now,” Brad Folkert, director of construction at Uline, told the commission. “So, we’ve been looking at that. And then, we were able to extend a couple of leases at our Pleasant Prairie properties that have put us in a position where, right now, we’re pretty well set. We kind of need an extension here in order to just push this back a little bit.”

The commission extended the permit for 12 months in response to the request.

Richard Uihlein donated nearly $80m to a pro-Trump political action committee in 2024. The Uihleins polled their own employees in October 2024 ahead of the presidential election on who they planned to vote for through a survey. In January 2026, a Uline employee resigned from the company in protest of the couple’s support for Trump and Republicans.

Elizabeth Uihlein responded in a statement to the Guardian about the survey: “this is stupid! The survey was for fun after enduring two years of this presidential election. The results were anonymous and participation was voluntary. This is completely benign.”