[9] Previously headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, the company moved to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, in 2010, in return for up to $18.6 million in state incentives.
[3] Richard Uihlein has been a Republican donor for decades, and increased his political giving after Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
[13] Although an influential donor, Richard Uihlein has been described as a person who "shuns the spotlight";[12] he and his wife rarely give interviews.
[13] His contributions include support for many Republican candidates in competitive primary races,[12] such as Ives[12][14] and Chris McDaniel.
[18] In 2019–2020, Uihlein gave $250,000 to Allen West in his campaign for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party against incumbent James Dickey.
[11][19] From 2015 to 2020, they donated $4.3 million (including $800,000 in October 2020) to Tea Party Patriots, a group that participated in the March to Save America rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
[20] During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Liz Uihlein declared the pandemic "overhyped" and was an outspoken critic of stay-at-home directives issued to combat the spread of the virus, calling upon Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature to push to remove Governor Tony Evers from office over the directive he issued.
[23] Uihlein is also the biggest donor to Women Speak Out PAC, a group seeking a federal abortion ban.
"[23] In columns in the company catalog, Liz Uihlein frequently writes on the couple's political views, ranging from "the danger of Chinese competition, the negative health effects of marijuana use and the detriments of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy.
[31] 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.
[34] 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.
[12] He has supported conservative groups and candidates including Ted Cruz, Roy Moore, The Club for Growth, and the Illinois Policy Institute.