Vulnerable Senate Democrats Ramp Up Fundraising
Sen. Patrick Joyce (D-Essex) is likely the most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for re-election in 2024.
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If you ask Republican insiders, they’ll tell you the Senate map in 2024 gives them, at best, three pickup opportunities.
But if you magically got them to tell you the truth, they’d tell you there’s really just one.
Sen. Patrick Joyce (D-Essex), a moderate Democrat appointed in 2019, won a full term in 2020. After redistricting, Joyce beat Republican Philip Nagel by around ten points last year.
Joyce’s district includes much of Kankakee, Bradley, and Bourbonnais, and sneaks into southern Will and southern Cook Counties, including parts of Crete, Richton Park, and Chicago Heights. It also includes numerous rural areas in Kankakee and Will County around Herscher, Wilmington, and Manhattan.
President Joe Biden won Joyce’s district by around six points in 2020. No other Democrat on the ballot in 2024 represents a district Biden won by less than 13 points.
Joyce reported around $24,000 in his campaign account on June 30.
In the third quarter of the year, Joyce reported raising around $191,000, which included $50,000 from the Laborers’ Chicago District Council PAC. He filed with around $193,000 cash on hand on September 30.
Sen. Mike Hastings (D-Frankfort) was a bit of a pariah among Senate Democrats in 2022. He was accused of spousal abuse and was sued by a former staffer for harassment in 2019. He was stripped of his committee chairmanship and Senate Democrats didn’t offer any financial support in his re-election race last year.
He held on to defeat Republican Patrick Sheehan by under 1,000 votes.
Now, it appears Senate Democrats have forgiven Hastings. He was appointed chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee (which comes with an additional pay stipend), and his fundraising has turned back around.
Hastings ended June with around $42,000 cash on hand, but raised $177,000 in the third quarter. He finished the quarter with around $190,000 cash on hand.
Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford), who also represents a district Biden won by 13 points, has around $277,000 cash on hand.
Senate Republicans continue to struggle with fundraising, as just nine of their 19 members have more than $100,000 cash on hand. Two of those, Sen. Win Stoller (R-East Peoria) and Sen. Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City), aren’t seeking re-election next year.
Only three, Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove), his number two, Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris), and Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Cherry Valley) have more than $200,000 in the bank.
Conservative freshman Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) trails them with $190,000 in the bank.
