Money in politics
Giannoulias has big funding lead in secretary of state race; Rabine outspends GOP governor foes; Duckworth has $5 million on hand
As he has racked up a string of endorsements, former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has also been collecting campaign cash and he holds a significant financial advantage over three rivals with little more than a year until the Democratic primary for secretary of state, campaign finance records showed.
On the Republican side, the mandated reports covering the second quarter of 2021, from April through June, show the three Republican announced candidates for governor to challenge billionaire Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s expected reelection bid spent heavily as they sought to build their fundraising operations.
The Democratic contest for secretary of state, to replace retiring longtime officeholder Jesse White, and the GOP race for the governor’s nomination are the marquee statewide races on next year’s primary ballot with the election moved to June 28 to accommodate delayed federal census results for drawing new congressional districts.
Giannoulias, who was state treasurer from 2007 to 2011 and an unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate in 2010, has been the early leader in gathering endorsements, including from labor unions and influential officeholders including U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García.
The union endorsements were reflected in Giannoulias’ fundraising, receiving $59,900 in contributions from various entities of the Laborers’ International Union, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union on the way to raising nearly $860,000 in the second quarter plus another $91,900 since June 30.
After he started the quarter with more than $2.1 million in cash available, the reports showed Giannoulias had more than $2.9 million at the start of July.
Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia and Aldermen Pat Dowell, 3rd, and David Moore, 17th, are also vying with Giannoulias for the Democratic nomination.
Valencia reported raising more than $226,000 and had nearly $594,000 in cash available on July 1, the reports showed. Dowell raised nearly $400,000 and had $416,381 available while Moore reported raising more than $16,200 and had $64,219 in cash on hand.
In the GOP race for governor, state Sen. Darren Bailey of Downstate Xenia reported $490,700 in cash on hand on July 1, raising more than $165,000 but spending nearly $185,000. Businessman Gary Rabine of Burr Ridge listed $287,325 in available money after raising nearly $345,000 while spending nearly $295,000. Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo raised $83,235 in the quarter but spent almost $137,000, leaving him with $116,280 in available cash, reports showed.
Since July 1, Rabine reported raising another $32,500 while Schimpf added another $2,000 in contributions.
Pritzker has not formally announced seeking a second term, but he put $35 million of his own money into his campaign fund in March. A wealthy heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and worth $3.5 billion, according to Forbes, Pritzker spent $171 million of his own money to defeat one-term Republican Bruce Rauner in 2018. He reported nearly $32.9 million in cash available on July 1.
Among the two party organizations, Democrats raised only $5,000 in the quarter as they awaited a Federal Election Commission ruling, issued Thursday, which prevented the state party’s new chair, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson, from raising or spending money for state and local races. As a member of Congress, Kelly is bound by federal campaign limits, which are more restrictive than state campaign laws.
The FEC ruled Kelly could keep the title but Democrats will have to set up a panel independent of Kelly to raise and direct the spending on state contests.
That new panel had $2.4 million to work with at the start of July, while Illinois Republicans — pointing at the fundraising issues surrounding Kelly — had $167,759 in cash on hand in the party’s state account. Of the $131,270 it raised, about $50,000 was attributable to food distributor Dot Foods, where state GOP Chair Don Tracy of Springfield is part of the company’s founding family.
On the federal level, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger from Channahon, who has become increasingly critical of House GOP leadership and was one of 10 Republicans to support former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment, reported raising $806,475 in the second quarter. He began July with more than $3 million in his campaign.
Among a group of Republicans looking to challenge Kinzinger in the primary, Catalina Lauf has the most cash on hand. Lauf unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination against Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood last year and was featured in Trump’s renominating convention videos.
Lauf reported raising $192,982 and had $141,399 in cash to begin July.
With the legislature looking to redraw congressional boundaries to reflect the loss of one House seat due to the federal census, many congressional contests have not formed or are premature.
Underwood, of Naperville, who narrowly won a second term against former state Sen. Jim Oberweis, reported raising $875,667 and had nearly $1.5 million in cash on hand.
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, who defeated Republican Jeanne Ives of Wheaton for a second term, reported raising more than $476,000 and had $832,487 in cash on hand.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is seeking a second term next year and faces no major Republican opposition at this point, reported raising nearly $2.4 million in the second quarter. Her cash on hand total to begin July was nearly $5 million.