When Darren Bailey launched his second straight Republican challenge to Gov. JB Pritzker, he knew the billionaire two-term governor would massively outspend him. But he still thought significant donor money would come his way.
It hasn’t. Conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein, who put more than $50 million behind Bailey’s unsuccessful 2022 campaign, has given the downstate farmer and former Republican state lawmaker a token $6,900 this time, and no other big donors have come forward.
Newly filed campaign finance records show Bailey entered the final month before the Nov. 3 election with $431,787 in cash on hand, a disadvantage of better than 100 to 1 to the $44.4 million that the self-funding Pritzker had in his campaign fund on Sept. 30.
Bailey, who has been endorsed by and is an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, has sought to distance himself from the White House in his second bid. But he is also blaming Trump’s policies for creating an unhealthy economic climate that threatens Republicans even in reliably red states.
“I thought we had some entrees to some money coming, but then with the war in Iran, the tariffs, the frustration of the federal government, the word got out that now (Republican donors) are kind of worried about Florida, they’re worried about Texas, they’re worried about Iowa,” Bailey said Wednesday during an appearance before the baiduhai Editorial Board. “So a lot of the money that … seemed like it was moving our way, it left and went to those places.”
Last December, Bailey predicted that Trump’s agenda would soon pay off.
“I believe that in the next nine months, I personally believe that we’re going to see some of this stuff make sense,” he said of Trump’s agenda more than 10 months ago.
Bailey raised $1.24 million from July through September, on top of the $128,000 he already had. But he spent $940,631 — nearly half on fundraising efforts through the mail and $166,000 on consulting.
Pritzker, whose net worth Forbes estimates at $4.2 billion, gave his campaign $65 million on Aug. 10 and spent $23.7 million in the three-month period, including more than $19 million on TV ads. Bailey has not run any TV ads and reported spending $22,500 on advertising during the quarter.
Collin Corbett, a former Republican political operative running for governor as an independent, reported having $34,797 in his campaign fund on Sept. 30 after spending nearly $350,000 on “field work.” He had loaned his campaign $500,000.
Bailey’s funding dilemma was evident among other Republicans challenging the slate of Democrats running for statewide office.
Republican Diane Harris, who is challenging Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias as he also mounts a multimillion-dollar campaign for Chicago mayor, reported having $134.20 in her campaign account on Sept. 30 — after repaying herself $820 for loans she made to her campaign.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul had $1.9 million in his reelection fund at the start of October and got another $250,000 from Pritzker this month. Republican challenger Bob Fioretti, who has become a perennial candidate for public office, had $20,712.
State Treasurer Mike Frerichs had nearly $1.6 million for his reelection. Challenger Max Solomon, who secured the Republican nomination as a write-in after the GOP failed to field a candidate, did not file a report by the midnight deadline on Oct. 15. Solomon had only $7,167 to begin July.
In the race for state comptroller, Democratic nominee Margaret Croke, a state representative, had more than $400,000 on hand as of Sept. 30, while Republican Bryan Drew had just over $49,000. Comptroller Susana Mendoza opted not to seek reelection and instead is running for Chicago mayor.
Pritzker funds PACs
Beyond his own campaign and state races he’s contributing to, Pritzker was also an active donor to federal campaigns this summer. He and first lady MK Pritzker gave more than $6.2 million to federal committees from July through September, campaign disclosures show. Most of it, $5 million, went to Ready for the Fight PAC, an independent expenditure committee run by his senior political adviser Mike Ollen.
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Pritzker’s contribution accounted for nearly all of the $5.6 million the PAC has raised since it launched in early September. The committee aims to elect Democratic candidates in places that are more red than traditional political battlegrounds, such as the Ohio district where Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller faces Democratic challenger Brian Poindexter.
Ready for the Fight had more than $3 million left in the bank at the end of September. As of Friday, it had reported spending an additional $5.8 million in October, records show, though those records didn’t immediately reflect how much the committee had raised during that period. More detailed disclosures covering contributions and expenditures through Wednesday are due next week.
Dems dominate state level amid scrutiny
On the state level, Democrats also maintained their fundraising dominance in legislative races in the last full quarter before the election.
Even as he faces scrutiny over his handling of sexual harassment allegations against former Democratic state Rep. Harry Benton, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s main campaign fund reported raising nearly $7.6 million from July through September, state campaign disclosures show. But $3.3 million of that was a partial refund of an earlier contribution from Welch’s fund to the state Democratic Party.
During the same period, Welch transferred $5 million to his Democrats for the Illinois House, two-thirds of the money raised to support the party’s House candidates.
House Democrats ended September with nearly $4.8 million in their caucus fund. The House Republican Organization had less than $240,000 on hand after raising nearly $1.6 million, $1 million of which came from House GOP leader Tony McCombie’s campaign fund.
The picture was similar in the Senate, where Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s Illinois Senate Democratic Fund reported raising nearly $5.4 million, including $5 million from Harmon’s personal campaign fund.
Senate Democrats entered the final full month of the campaign with more than $2.3 million on hand. Senate Republican leader John Curran’s caucus committee had less than $467,000. Of the nearly $3.1 million the Illinois Senate Republican Campaign Committee raised, $3 million came from Curran’s own candidate fund.
The committee’s only direct contribution from an individual person, as opposed to a business or group, was a $200 check from former member Dale Righter of Mattoon.
Tracy’s big loan
In the race to succeed retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton raised more than $1.5 million during the summer quarter. Her Republican opponent, attorney and former state party chair Don Tracy, loaned his campaign nearly the same amount.
Stratton raised close to $1.53 million across two campaign funds, records show, and her main fund had about $1.6 million on hand at the end of September. Pritzker, who picked Stratton as his running mate when she had served less than one term in the Illinois General Assembly, spent $10 million supporting her in the primary, mostly through an outside committee
Tracy reported raising nearly $1.69 million this quarter, $1.5 million of it a loan to himself. Tracy, who also loaned himself $2 million last year, spent more than $2 million this summer, including $1.4 million on digital advertising and nearly $200,000 on billboards. Several of the billboards around the state read “SOCIALISM DESTROYS LIVES,” and Tracy said Friday he intended to keep them up through Election Day. He ended September with $1.1 million on hand.
In a brief phone interview Friday, Tracy cast himself as beholden to no special interests because his campaign is primarily self-funded.
“I’m not going to be bought or owned by anybody or owe anything to anybody,” Tracy, who was left with $1.1 million on hand, said. “The special interest money flows to the power, where the power is, and in Illinois, Democrats have absolute power.”
Bean, Davis in tight money race in 8th District
In the northwest suburban 8th Congressional District, former U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean’s comeback bid against Republican tech entrepreneur Jennifer Davis produced a competitive fundraising battle.
Bean raised more than $350,000 from July through September and had more than $277,000 on hand at the end of September.
Davis raised $237,000 during the same period, by far the most of any Republican running for an open Chicago-area seat. Bolstered by $1 million she previously loaned her campaign, she spent more than $523,000 this quarter and entered October with more than $444,000 on hand.
Independent leads fundraising in 4th District
In the Latino-majority 4th Congressional District, independent Chris Getty, the Lyons mayor and Lyons Township supervisor, outraised Democratic nominee Patty García over the summer, bringing in $212,000. He had $138,500 left.
Still, the money has poured in from congressional Democrats, left-leaning political action committees and labor unions for García, the favorite to represent the Southwest Chicago and western suburban district. She raised $116,000 and has more than $172,000 on hand.
The race was shaped early by political maneuvering from retiring Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García that gave Patty García, his chief of staff who is not related to the congressman, a clear path to the Democratic nomination without facing a primary field — a move her opponents have criticized.
Republican candidate Lupe Castillo and Working Class Party candidate Ed Hershey have not reported any fundraising.
Some GOP candidates report no fundraising
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the Democratic nominee in the deep-blue 9th Congressional District on the North Side and northern suburbs, raised more than $433,000 this summer, pushing his primary and general election total well past $3 million. Biss, who emerged from a dramatic 15-way Democratic primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky this spring, had about $568,000 on hand at the end of September, campaign filings show.
His Republican opponent, suburban pastor John Elleson, has not reported any fundraising.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, the prohibitive Democrat favorite to succeed U.S. Rep. Danny Davis in the 7th Congressional District, spent slightly more than the $94,000 he raised during the summer reporting period. He had about $102,000 on hand at the end of September, according to his campaign filings.
Chad Koppie, Ford’s GOP opponent who has frequently run for office and lost, reported raising exactly enough to cover his campaign’s less than $3,000 in expenses this quarter, most of it out of pocket, ending September with $42.
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In the South Side and south suburban 2nd Congressional District, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller raised nearly $227,000 and had about $102,000 at the end of September. Miller beat out a comeback bid by former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in the primary race to succeed U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, who lost to Stratton in the Senate primary.
Miller’s opponent, Republican Michael Scott Noack, has not reported any fundraising.
The Tribune’s Jake Sheridan contributed.