* Press release…

With just 35 days until Election Day and early voting underway, Lauren Underwood has unveiled her second campaign commercial of the general election. The ad, “It’s On”, tells the story of how the campaign came to be––with a broken healthcare promise from her Republican opponent in the IL-14 congressional race.

“He stood in front of us and promised to protect healthcare coverage for more than 300,000 people in our community with pre-existing conditions. Just a few weeks later, he cast a vote that would have jeopardized coverage for the people who need it most,” Underwood said. “When my congressman made that promise, I believed him. I believed him because it was personal. I’m a nurse who has taken care of patients with chronic illnesses and I have a pre-existing heart condition myself. I’m running for Congress because this community deserves better.”

The ad, released after Underwood closed the final FEC filing quarter of the general election with a community fundraiser in her hometown of Naperville, represents a significant investment for the campaign. The commercial will run on broadcast and cable.

* Rate it…

* Script…

Underwood: “I have a heart condition that’s considered a pre-existing condition. At my congressman’s one and only public event of 2017, he said he was only going to support a version of Obamacare repeal that let people with pre-existing conditions keep their healthcare coverage.”

Hultgren: “Any type of replacement has to have pre-existing conditions.”

Underwood: “That’s what he said. He lied about taking away my healthcare coverage. Randy Hultgren voted against people like me with pre-existing conditions. And I decided, you know what, ‘it’s on, I’m running.’ I’m Lauren Underwood and I approve this message.”

Keep an eye on that race.

*** UPDATE *** Dems go in bigly…

#HouseMajorityPAC is entering #IL14 with an initial buy of $900k on cable. #Election2018 #PoliticalSpending #DeltaAlerts #Comeptitive #Illinois

— AdvertisingAnalytics (@Ad_Analytics) October 2, 2018

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Meanwhile…

Today Sean Casten, Illinois 6th Congressional District Candidate, announced that his campaign had raised over $2.6 million in the third quarter.

“These numbers confirm what we already knew,” said Casten “People are ready for a change in Illinois’ Sixth District, and the momentum is on our side. I’m humbled by the outpouring of support I’ve seen throughout the campaign from our thousands of volunteers and from the over 79,000 individuals who have contributed to our campaign.”

Sean Casten is running to unseat incumbent Peter Roskam whose campaign is being bankrolled by special interests like the billionaire Koch brothers and Paul Ryan’s allies at the Congressional Leadership Fund.

So far in the general election, Roskam and his allies have spent millions of dollars on mailings, TV and digital ads. Yet, it’s obvious it’s not working as recently Inside Elections moved the race to “Tilt Dem” just as Politico becomes the fifth key political prognosticator to join Cook Political Report, Election Projection, and Larry Sabato all to list this race a toss-up. The Casten campaign poll, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, and the New York Times latest public polling confirms that momentum.

That’s one big haul.

Politico…

Casten had ended Q2 with $646,750 in his campaign coffers. He faces Republican incumbent Peter Roskam, who ended the second quarter with $2.3 million on hand, according to campaign finance reports.

* Related…

* Joe Biden Endorses Underwood For District 14 - First, she gets an ice cream flavor. Now, a high-profile endorsement.

* Roskam, Casten disagree on lifting payroll tax cap for Social Security

* 6th Congressional District Republican nominee: Peter Roskam

* 6th Congressional District Democratic nominee: Sean Casten