House Dems "Swamping" Republicans in Cash
House Speaker Chris Welch (R) and House GOP Leader Tony McCombie appear at an event in Springfield in 2023.
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As the final stretch to the November 5 election closes in, House Democrats enjoy a gigantic financial advantage over superminority Republicans in their attempt to grow their already record 78-40 majority.
Third quarter campaign finance reports were due by midnight last night, showing where candidates stood on September 30.
House Speaker Chris Welch reported over $5 million in his personal campaign account. The Democratic caucus committee, Democrats for the Illinois House, reported another $2.1 million.
Meanwhile, House Republican Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) reported around $615,000 in her personal campaign account. The House GOP caucus committees she controls reported a total of around $253,000.
That gives Democrats a roughly 9:1 cash advantage for the final month of the campaign.
“We’re getting swamped,” one exasperated Republican operative texted last night. “Democrats are going to have advantages with unions and [Governor JB] Pritzker, but we can’t even get our candidates on TV. This could be bad. Really bad.”
The reports don’t reflect contributions and spending that have been made since October 1, where Democrats have started bringing in cash from Pritzker and have been spending dramatically more money on contested races than Republicans.
Here is the cash on hand for a few top races. Remember, caucus leaders can dump unlimited cash into each race before Election Day:
45th District: Marti Deuter (D) $16,286.92, Dennis Reboletti (R) $29,123.42
47th District: Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) $19,326.74, Jackie Williamson (D) $50,931.90
51st District: Rep. Nabeela Syed (D-Palatine) $430,827.10, Tosi Ufodike (R) $58,290.67
52nd District: Rep. Marty McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) $143,468.46, Maria Peterson (D) $74,733.41
76th District: Amy Murri Briel (D) $95,232.77, Liz Bishop (R) $29,685.46
79th District: Rep. Jackie Haas (R-Bourbonnais) $103,927.55, Billy Morgan (D) $28,507.75
81st District: Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) $21,472.89, Aaron Porter (R) $48,880.78
82nd District: Rep. Nicole La Ha (R-Homer Glen) $136,159.49, Suzanne Akhras (D) $115,150.01
91st District: Rep. Sharon Chung (D-Bloomington) $359,868.25, Desi Anderson (R) $34,780.52
104th District: Rep. Brandun Schweizer (R-Danville) $33,257.40, Jarrett Clem (D) $139,615.64
112th District: Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) $632,661.97, Jay Keeven (R) $49,117.97
114th District: Rep. Kevin Schmidt (R-Millstadt) $54,904.25, LaToya Greenwood (D) $165,658.95