> Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire owners of business supply company Uline in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

In 1980, with start-up funds from Richard's father, Elizabeth and Richard founded Uline, a shipping supplies company.[17][14] 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.[14] As of 2020, the company had around 7,000 employees.[18] Elizabeth Uihlein is the company's president and Richard is the CEO; their three children hold executive roles.[19][20][14]

Richard Uihlein has been a Republican donor for decades, and increased his political giving after Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.[8] He has been a longtime donor to Republicans who share his ultra-conservative views.[14] He is a staunch social and economic conservative,[25] with views that are anti-union,[18][19][25] anti-tax,[18][25] and pro-deregulation.[25] He has supported far-right[14] candidates and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights as well as abortion rights.[15] Richard Uihlein has been described as a person who "shuns the spotlight";[19] he rarely gives interviews.[18]

The Uihleins gave $22 million in the 2016 election cycle.[19] 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,[19] contributing money to the pro-Trump "Great America PAC" and $500,000 to Trump's inauguration,[25] which he attended.[19] He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee.[19]

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.[18][40]

Uihlein was a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 United States Capitol attack.[31] From 2015 to 2020, the Uihleins 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 attack.[41]