Campaign Finance Reports In
The State Capitol in Springfield.
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Quarterly campaign finance reports were due before midnight Friday.
We’ve created a handy spreadsheet for you to see where lawmakers and statewide candidates stand on fundraising so far this year. Here are some takeaways:
Let’s just exclude Governor JB Pritzker from these conversations. After giving his campaign $35 million (yes, million) earlier this year, his campaign filed last night with over $32 million cash on hand. It’s astronomical and beyond the norm for an incumbent governor (or any politician) in the state.
The Republican candidate with the most cash on hand is Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), who filed last night with around $491,000 cash.
Republican businessman Gary Rabine raised the most money of GOP contenders (around $344,000) last quarter, but burned through nearly $295,000 in three months, leaving him with around $287,000 cash.
Former Senator Paul Schimpf trails the rest of the GOP field with $116,000 cash on hand.
Alexi Giannoulias leads the Democrat race for Secretary of State with $2.9 million cash on hand. Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia has $594,000, Chicago Alderwoman Pat Dowell has $416,000 and Alderman David Moore filed with $64,000.
State Treasurer Mike Frerichs is in the best shape of the other statewides with $1.7 million cash on hand.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza called in the cavalry last quarter, raising over $300k. She now has $446,000 cash on hand.
House Democrats have $1.3 million cash on hand compared to around $178,000 for House Republicans. (that’s a roughly 7-fold advantage)
Senate Democrats have $825,000 cash compared to around $370k for Senate Republicans.
House Speaker Chris Welch has raised $1.6 million since being elevated to the slot in January. His personal campaign account has $1.48 million on hand. House GOP Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) has $294,000 cash.
The only other member of the House with over $1 million on hand is Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea), who is sitting on $1.07 million cash on hand. Freshman Rep. Tim Ozinga (R-Mokena) is proving himself to be quite the fundraiser. He has $986k cash on hand.
In the Senate, President Don Harmon is sitting on a gigantic $6 million cash. His GOP counterpart, Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) has around $511k cash.
McConchie isn’t even the GOP Senator with the most cash on hand. Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) has around $612,000. Barickman has said he’s considering a run for Governor.
Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park), who is under indictment, filed with about $1,500 cash. That will only fuel speculation about his potential departure from the legislature.