Federal campaign news roundup
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Stay tuned…
* New Raja poll…
In the latest survey of the nominating contest for the Democrats for the U.S. Senate in Illinois among the three leading candidates, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi holds a double-digit lead over his closest opponent. […]
Raja’s lead is not built on a name identification advantage. Among the voters who can identify all three candidates, his lead expands further to a 38 – 23 percent edge over Stratton with 20 percent supporting Kelly.
Raja also leads Stratton among voters who have participated in the last three Democratic primary elections by an even wider 40 – 20 percent (Kelly wins 18 percent of these voters).
The GBAO Strategies poll of 1,200 likely voters contacted via live dialers via telephone and through text-to-web responses between June 5-10, has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.
Lots of undecideds.
* We told you about this yesterday…
Two Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation and a north suburban state senator running for Congress were the first Illinois elected officials to publicly acknowledge being named in notes kept by the 57-year-old alleged shooter charged with assassinating the Democratic leader of the Minnesota House and her husband.
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, along with Democratic state Sen. Laura Fine, all issued statements Tuesday acknowledging their names were found among Vance Boelter’s materials that were recovered by law enforcement.
On that topic, Politico had the same quote from Rep. Kelly Cassidy as Isabel had in her subscriber post this morning…
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, an outspoken advocate for abortion rights in Illinois, did not say whether her name appeared in the notes, but offered a statement: “Without speaking specifically to the events of this week, in my experience it is important to maintain confidentiality and follow all guidance from law enforcement to avoid impeding any investigation in a situation like this. Anything else potentially puts people at risk.”
Subscribers know more.
* Here’s a story we totally missed…
The daughter-in-law of a former U.S. congresswoman is running in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), and she is doing so without the support of her family.
Awisi Bustos, CEO of the Illinois Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, is joining the crowded primary contest to replace Durbin, 80, who is not running for a sixth term. […]
But Awisi Bustos’s campaign launch came with blowback from her famous family. Former Rep. Bustos said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that she and her “entire family are not supportive” of Awisi’s campaign.
Why? Probably because Awisi Bustos is in the middle of a divorce case with the former representative’s son, Nick Bustos, per Punchbowl News.
* Not sure I’m buying this…
* Uncommon platform…
* And…
