Pritzker Dominating Airwaves
A screenshot from a recent Pritzker commercial.
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Seemingly without batting an eye, the campaign of billionaire Governor JB Pritzker has spent millions on television ads since the primary election concluded June 28.
Since the primary, Pritzker has spent at least $1.6 million on cable and around $3 million on Chicago broadcast television. He has spent hundreds of thousands more in the Champaign-Decatur-Springfield, Peoria-Bloomington, Rockford, Quad Cities, and Carbondale-Cape Girardeau markets. Just this week in Champaign, Pritzker’s campaign is spending around $70,000.
GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey has spent $0 on TV since the end of the primary.
Because it is not a federal issues PAC, stations aren’t required to release detailed buys of radio host Dan Proft’s “People Who Play By The Rules” PAC, though GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein has dumped more than $15 million into the PAC. Though, sources say this week alone, the PAC has spent around $100,000 on TV ads, exclusively on Chicago cable.
Pritzker, meanwhile, is spending $133,000 this week on Chicago cable and around $325,000 this week on Chicago broadcast stations.
One Democratic strategist told The Illinoize Tuesday Pritzker could drop tens of millions into TV “at the drop of a hat” if Bailey were to gain traction or if Pritzker’s poll numbers were to drop.