* Usually, the rule of thumb is that when a candidate goes up on TV, they don’t go dark unless they run out of money. The Evanston RoundTable published this report on Sen. Laura Fine’s very curious TV ad flight in CD9…

Fine is the only other candidate in the 9th District race to have bought broadcast TV ads, though she is not doing so anymore. However, that does not mean she will disappear from TV ads. […]

FCC filings show Fine’s campaign spent over $900,000 to place TV ads on both broadcast and cable between Jan. 6 and Feb. 1. This sum represents more than 60% of the $1.44 million Fine had on hand entering 2026, the most of any candidate in the race.

But entering February, Fine stopped spending, with no new TV ad buys since the month began. This stop lines up closely with the start-up of a brand new super PAC called “Elect Chicago Women,” which as of Sunday has logged nearly $2.2 million in TV ad buys supporting both Fine and former U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, who is running for her old seat in the 8th Congressional District. […]

The RoundTable asked Fine’s campaign why it stopped buying TV ads at the start of February, and to explain how the close timing with Elect Chicago Women’s start of ad spending might lead some to believe there was coordination.

A spokesperson responded that the campaign “cannot and does not coordinate with outside groups,”

Campaigns regularly track spending by other entities, but this looks kinda fishy to me.

* Bob Skolnik reported some explosive allegations from congressional candidate and state Rep. La Shawn Ford…

A Super PAC connected with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has involved itself in a big way in the hotly contested Democratic primary race to replace the retiring Danny Davis in the 7th Congressional District.

The United Democracy Project (UDP) has reportedly committed to spending $2.8 million in television ads supporting Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the March 17 Democratic primary. That commitment far surpasses the spending of any of the 13 other candidates in the race, many of whom condemn the Super PAC money. […]

State Rep. La Shawn Ford, who has been endorsed by Davis to succeed him, said he had held discussions with representatives from UDP, including an in-person meeting last month. But Ford said he was unwilling to commit to supporting unconditional aid to Israel which was, he says, the requirement to get support from UDP.

“I’ve also had meetings with the very people that’s spending this money,” Ford said. “They want you to say ‘yes’ to everything that they have requests for. There’s no gray lines as it relates to their beliefs. It’s a yes or no. …. Don’t have a conversation; that this is what we want. We want you to vote with us in Washington 100% of the time, and we want to control our member, and that’s what this is about. And I refused that type of relationship. My relationship will, and always has been, to the constituents and representing the needs of the district.”

Meanwhile, Jason Friedman, who led Chicago’s Jewish United Fund, was singled out by WBEZ for raising “nearly three times more than his closest rival among 13 Democratic candidates in the March 17 primary.” But AIPAC is going with Conyears-Ervin over the longtime Jewish advocate.

* Tracking the super PACs…

* More…

* Politico | Crypto super PAC wades into Illinois House primaries: A crypto-funded super PAC is poised to shake up two Illinois Democratic House primaries with seven-figure ad buys targeting state lawmakers running for Congress who backed legislation that the industry opposes. The super PAC, Fairshake, will spend at least $1 million each against Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford, who is running to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Danny Davis, and state Sen. Robert Peters, who is vying to succeed Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly as she runs for U.S. Senate. … Both Ford and Peters voted for state-level crypto legislation imposing new rules on digital asset firms that became law last August. Peters — who is backed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leading crypto critic — was a co-sponsor of the measure, which forces crypto companies to comply with a range of new consumer protection standards. … The crypto super PAC group, which operates independently from any campaign, is funded primarily by three firms: the crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple, along with the venture capital group Andreessen Horowitz.

* Jewish Insider | Longtime Chicago Jewish federation leader Jason Friedman makes a bid for open House seat: In a statement seemingly responding to the UDP ads, Friedman said that he “joined this race to fight and deliver results for everyone. The people of the 7th District deserve a representative with integrity, not career politicians with ethical baggage who sell out their constituents to the highest bidder.” Conyears-Ervin has faced several scandals in recent years, and paid tens of thousands of dollars in fines for ethics violations including misuse of city resources. Friedman added that he “won’t be bullied and I won’t back down from doing what’s right — not now, not ever.”

* Fox News | AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up: The group [Leading the Future] plans to spend seven figures in the open-seat Democratic primary in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District, in support of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and in the state’s 8th Congressional District, where they’re backing former Rep. Melissa Bean.