Money reports
Monday, Feb 3, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Lynn Sweet…
In the biggest Chicago-area Democratic primary, embattled Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., enters the final weeks of the 3rd Congressional District campaign with more cash-on-hand than chief rivals Marie Newman and Rush Darwish.
And in the major Republican primary in the Chicago region, the willingness of state Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, to self-finance his bid — he’s put in $1 million so far — puts him ahead of his key competitors in the seven-way contest for the 14th Congressional District seat held by freshman Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill.
His main competition, state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, and Ted Gradel, a Naperville businessman, also made substantial loans to their bids. They each outraised Oberweis in the last quarter of 2019.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., is the Illinois House fundraising champion, and he faces only nominal primary opposition and no Republican opponent. He has stockpiled a stunning $6,895,927 in campaign cash — more than twice than Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., who ranks second with $3,330,558 cash on hand.
* Ted Slowik…
For the three-month period ending Sept. 30, Lipinski reported donations of $176,741, expenses of $191,690 and a balance of $693,088. Newman reported donations of $345,640, expenses of $183,278 and a balance of $514,237. Darwish reported receipts of $210,779, expenses of $83,943 and a balance of $318,113.
* Shia Kapos…
13th District: Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigen out-raised incumbent GOP Rep. Rodney Davis in Q4 2019. Londrigan took in $531,090 and is holding $1.14 million heading into a Dem primary against little-known Stefanie Smith. Davis raised $360,937 and has $1.1 million cash on hand. […]
14th District: Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood raised $878,087 in Q4 and has $1.7 million in the bank. There are three leading GOP candidates in the money race: state Sen. Jim Oberweis raised $726,209 and has $1.1 million COH; Ted Gradel raised $269,650 and has $649,126 COH; and state Sen. Sue Rezin raised $217,074 and has $329,389 COH. Four other GOP candidates lag behind, each holding under $40,000.
6th District: Dem. Rep. Sean Casten has $1.9 million COH after raising $639,054 in Q4 2019. He’s awaiting the outcome of the GOP primary between Jeanne Ives and Jay Kinzler. Ives raised $267,997 in Q4 and has $313,366 COH. Kinzler raised $150,903 and has $145,534 COH.
Thoughts?
…Adding… Press release…
With just 43 days before the Illinois primary, conservative Darren Duncan has shown himself to be the clear frontrunner in the race to replace incumbent Congressman John Shimkus.
As Federal Election Commission fundraising reports were filed Friday, Duncan showed immense strength, even though he had a three month delay on Mary Miller raising money and putting together an operation. Duncan closed the end of the year with over $200,000 cash on hand, while Miller’s campaign showed about $100,000.
Miller has tried to portray herself as a fundraising juggernaut in the initial months of her campaign, but it appears much of her rhetoric was inflated. Of Miller’s roughly $100,000 cash on hand, almost $60,000 of it, more than half, is earmarked for the General Election. That means she can’t touch it without the risk of having to pay it back if she loses the primary.
None of Darren Duncan’s Q4 contributions were earmarked for November, meaning every dollar in his campaign account is accessible before March 17.
Duncan has amassed tens of thousands of views on his first web ad, “He’ll Help Trump,” and will be on the air beginning Tuesday.
Since entering the race, Duncan has put together a district-wide operation and has positioned himself as the conservative candidate who will help Donald Trump pass a conservative agenda in Washington.
A seventh-generation farmer, Duncan was endorsed by former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway and the Rural America Counts PAC, chaired by Arkansas Republican Congressman Rick Crawford. He’ll be rolling out high profile local endorsements in the coming days.
The clock is ticking to March 17 and Darren Duncan has shown himself to be the frontrunner for Congress.
- welp ok - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 10:39 am:
That Raja number is insane. US Senate one day? All his CNN interviews about impeachment probably are paying off.
- MG85 - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 10:47 am:
==Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigen out-raised incumbent GOP Rep. Rodney Davis in Q4 2019.==
This race, to me, is the canary in the coal mine for the 2020 Presidential race. If folks like Betsy win in that type of district, I believe it will be systematically over for the Trump era and national Republicans.
She barely lost 2 years ago with unprecedented levels of turnout in a midterm election, so a presidential election (where Trump is on the ballot) will elicit strong voter turnout on both sides.
My prediction: if BDL wins by:
narrow marg - 1%: long night for the election
1% - 3%: long night for GOP
3%+: Long night of celebration for the Dems
- SantaClaus - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 10:52 am:
This is Illinois. Raja’s payoff is probably not related to Trump.
- Precinct Captain - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 11:04 am:
Dem congressional candidates around the country have been raising mammoth cash.
From Politico:
So far, a whopping nine Frontliners have announced 2020 warchests of over $2 million. That’s a staggering sum, particularly because some of them, like Rep. Antonio Delgado in NY-19, have yet to attract a serious challenger. This class is shaping up to be unprecedentedly well-funded. At the end of the last off-year, not a single one of the 30 GOP incumbents who were ousted in the midterms had more than $2 million in the bank. (Though then-Reps. Bruce Poliquin of Maine and Jeff Denham of California had $1.9 million and lost anyway.)
The biggest problem for Republicans is that they’re struggling to adjust to a new normal. A $400,000 quarter used to be impressive, but it’s not anymore, when the Democratic incumbent is pulling in $1 million. They also can’t expect much help from the party committee. Emmer openly bemoaned the fact that the DCCC outraised the NRCC by $40 million in 2019, bringing in $125 million to the NRCC’s $85 million. That’s a huge gap. In the 2017 off-year, the DCCC bested the NRCC by $20 million.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2020/01/22/house-gop-sounds-the-alarm-on-q4-fundraising-784562
- John Lopez - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 11:11 am:
Clearly, Raja is eyeing the Durbin U.S. Senate seat when Durbin calls it a career, most likely after his 5th term in six years.
But, should Durbin leave early, due to health, a cabinet appointment in a Democratic administration or death, Raja will be ready for the special election to succeed Durbin, with multimillion dollars to back up his claim.
Raja’s been raising money like there is no tomorrow long before impeachment.
- Yahale Danoff - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 11:25 am:
Both, Sean and Jean are too extreme for me.
- Hard D - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 12:00 pm:
Lipinski looking good with money and with poll numbers. Newman’s star has really fallen since her last election night speech.
- John Lopez - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 12:23 pm:
In the 14th, a good $105K of Gradel’s cash on hand cannot be spent in the primary since the dollars were raised from donors who’ve already given the maximum $2,800 for the primary.
Oberweis & Rezin have some non-primary cash on hand, too, but nowhere near Gradel’s.
- Nick Name - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 12:31 pm:
First I was aware that Dirksen-Londrigan had a primary opponent.
- big yikes - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 12:43 pm:
Big yikes for Newman. Crazy overhead from that campaign. Most peculiar is that she paid herself $2k in “salary.” Her house in La Grange is worth over a million, yet she pays herself a salary from her campaign account?
- logic not emotion - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 2:47 pm:
I’m impressed. How does a state rep raise nearly $7 million? That is over $19 thousand per day each day for 365 days.
- Bruce - Monday, Feb 3, 20 @ 5:52 pm:
If Dem party gives Newman $, when would we know? Before or after primary? Me thinks Pelosi and Bustos will help her on the down low.
Also 6.6 is huge for a relatively new congressman
- Token Conservative - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 1:51 pm:
Interesting to see how much of a fraud Mary Miller’s entire campaign has been.