* Juliana Stratton campaign fundraising email from May 27th of 2025…

Hi friend,

I made a tough decision this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to know the details.

On Friday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital outreach — fast. Why? We’re pacing behind our May fundraising goals, and time is not on our side.

My team walked me through the numbers and laid out a plan. They recommended expanding our digital outreach to help us grow our base, reach new supporters, and raise the resources we need to catch up. But there was one problem: the money wasn’t in our budget.

I spent the weekend thinking it over. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

It was a risk — but one I’m willing to take. Because I believe in the power of this team, and I believe in you. If we’re going to build a people-powered campaign that’s rooted in real connection, we can’t play it safe.

Right now, I’m betting on this grassroots team to help us close the gap and make this investment worth it. So on the heels of this difficult budget decision, I am asking:

Can you chip in $3, $25, or whatever you can today to help us cover this cost and keep building the momentum we need?

* Juliana Stratton campaign fundraising email from September 25th of 2025…

I made a tough decision this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to know the details.

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital outreach — fast. Why? We’re pacing behind our critical September fundraising goals ahead of our FEC deadline, and time is not on our side.

My team walked me through the numbers and laid out a plan. They recommended expanding our digital outreach to help us grow our base, reach new supporters, and raise the resources we need to catch up. But there was one problem: The money wasn’t in our budget.

I spent the day thinking it over. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* Stratton fundraising email from October 24th of 2025…

I made a tough decision this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to know the details.

Last week, Q3 FEC reports were released, and my team and I sat down to look at our opponents’ reports. Soon after, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request.

We needed to expand our digital outreach — fast. Why? Because one of our opponents is outraising us right now. Not through grassroots support, but through big donors and corporate money. […]

I spent a few days thinking it over. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* Stratton fundraising email from November 23rd of 2025…

I made a tough decision this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to know why.

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital outreach — fast.

Why? We’re pacing behind our November fundraising goals, and with our final quarterly FEC deadline approaching before the primary, we cannot afford to come up short. […]

I spent a few days thinking it over. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* December 21, 2025…

I made a tough decision this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to know why.

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital outreach — fast. […]

So I spent a some time thinking it over. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* January 25, 2026…

I made a difficult decision this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to know why.

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital outreach — fast. […]

I spent a day thinking over whether we should take the risk and make the investment. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* February 16, 2026…

I made a tough decision this morning, and as a core part of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear it directly from me.

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent need: We have to scale up our digital outreach — and fast. […]

I spent a long day weighing the risk. And this morning, I said yes.

* March 9, 2026…

I made the toughest decision of this entire campaign this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear it from me.

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital and TV outreach — fast. […]

So I spent a day thinking over whether we should take the risk and make the investment. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* April 22, 2026…

I took a big risk this morning, and as a member of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear why:

Yesterday, my campaign team came to me with an urgent request. We needed to expand our digital outreach across the state. […]

So I spent a day thinking over whether we should take the risk and make the investment. And this morning, I gave them the green light.

* May 23, 2026…

I made a difficult decision recently, and as a core part of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear it directly from me.

My Republican opponent has been pummeling me with attacks and smears. He’s calling me extreme. Inexperienced. Claiming I’ll protect criminals. Saying I’ll raise costs on working families.

None of it is true. I know that. He knows that. And I believe you do too. But he’s using his personal wealth to fund and run with these attacks.

So my campaign team decided we needed to respond. We decided to scale up our digital outreach to combat these attacks and make sure Illinoisans know who I am and what we’re fighting for. But there was a problem: the funding wasn’t in our budget.

I spent a long day weighing the risk and ended up giving the green light.

* May 26, 2026…

I made a difficult decision recently, and as a core part of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear it directly from me.

My Republican opponent has been pummeling me with attacks and smears. He’s calling me extreme. Inexperienced. Claiming I’ll protect criminals. Saying I’ll raise costs on working families.

None of it is true. I know that. He knows that. And I believe you do too. But he’s using his personal wealth to fund and run with these attacks.

So my campaign team decided we needed to respond. We decided to scale up our digital outreach to combat these attacks and make sure Illinoisans know who I am and what we’re fighting for. But there was a problem: the funding wasn’t in our budget.

I spent a long day weighing the risk and ended up giving the green light.

* June 13, 2026…

I made a difficult decision recently, and as a core part of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear it directly from me. […]

I spent a long day weighing the risk and ended up giving the green light.

* July 23, 2026…

I made a difficult decision recently, and as a core part of our grassroots team, you deserve to hear it directly from me. […]

I spent a long day weighing the risk and ended up giving the green light.

She raised about $1.1 million in the second quarter and had $1.1 million cash on hand.

I dunno, maybe spend fewer long days making difficult decisions to blast out rote emails? /s

{Stratton is also raising money for a joint committee, Juliana Victory Fund.]