Follow the Money: With Emanuel Out, Where Do the Big Checks Land?

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s stunning announcement Tuesday that he will not seek a third term has upended a packed campaign field and freed up a powerful donor base for current — or incoming — challengers to tap.

The two-term mayor, former congressional leader and top White House insider possesses a nearly unmatched ability to pull in large campaign checks. The $8.3 million Emanuel last reported in his campaign fund was likely just a small fraction of what he could have brought to bear as his tough re-election battle gained steam. The cash would have been needed to dominate the airwaves and fuel an expansive ground operation as a bulwark against an onslaught of criticism from candidates wooing the city’s various voting blocs.

Among Emanuel’s biggest contributors were investment firm magnates, including Michael Sacks of GCM Grosvenor (contributed $653,500), Sam Zell of Equity International ($150,000), Samuel Mencoff ($305,000) and Paul Finnegan ($200,000) of Madison Dearborn Partners, and Daniel Tierney of Wicklow Capital ($133,333). Barry Malkin, the Willy Family, Inc., and Bernard Schwartz have also each given $100,000 to his campaign.

Alongside the finance sector, Emanuel has drawn major support from the Chicagoland Operators Union ($250,000), the Ironworkers Union ($250,000), the LIUNA Union ($250,000), and the Chicago Carpenters Union ($200,000).

Now, Emanuel’s exit has caused a flurry of conjecture about what comes next and where big donors will turn.

Up until Tuesday, challengers were struggling to find significant donors willing to cross a two-term incumbent legendary for his political and fundraising acumen.

The next best-funded candidate, former Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot, had $552,032 in her campaign’s account — 1/16th of the amount Emanuel had raised — as of June 30, the end the last reporting period.

Other mayoral contenders include former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas ($443,708), former Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy ($246,670), Chicago businessman and philanthropist Willie Wilson, and Northwestern professor and tech entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin, among others.

What happens to all that money?

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Emanuel intends to return at least some of his campaign funds to donors, but that may leave significant amounts in play.

Under current Illinois campaign finance regulations, a political candidate’s campaign can donate, or “transfer out,” money to a different political candidate’s committee, even one a contributor may not have supported.

Usually candidates can only transfer up to $55,400 from their campaign accounts to another candidate. But even that $55,400 limit is eliminated when contribution caps have been lifted. Candidate Willie Wilson blew the caps off the mayor’s race when he donated more than $100,000 to his own campaign. That means that while Emanuel is limited in what he can donate to most other races, he could transfer virtually unlimited amounts to different Chicago mayoral candidates.

Emanuel can also keep funds, saving them for the possibility that he will run for office again someday.

ICPR will continue monitoring the Chicago mayoral race. Visit our campaign finance database website, Illinois Sunshine, or Illinois Sunshine’s Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute updates on who is funding campaigns for public office in Illinois.