House Democrat’s Campaign War Chest More Than Doubles GOP’s Senate Democrats Outspend Republicans 2 to 1

Media outlets are keeping a close watch on the eye-popping spending in Illinois’ gubernatorial campaign with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrat J.B. Pritzker so far shelling out about $130 million, most of it coming from their own deep pockets.

Yet, a significant amount of money is also being raised and spent in down-ballot state campaigns in the run-up to the midterm elections. In 2016, Illinois ranked second in the nation for cash raised for state legislative races, and Democrats saw their majority whittled in the House as Republicans also grabbed two seats in the Senate.

This time, Illinois Democrats are banking on a “blue wave” to help carry General Assembly races for them. As an example, Democrats outpaced Republicans in the second fundraising quarter in two key areas: campaign spending in Senate races and cash-on-hand for House elections.

Only 64 Illinois House seats are contested this year despite all 118 seats being up for election. Five of those races have drawn three-way races with either an independent, Green Party or Libertarian candidate.

During this most recent fundraising quarter – April 1 to June 30 – the combined 135 House candidates raised about $2.6 million and spent nearly half, $1.4 million, of those funds. Of that, Democratic candidates collected slightly more than the GOP, $1.4 million to $1.1 million, respectively. But the GOP’s $739,597 spent edged out the Democrats $661,452.

While House Republican candidates burned slightly more of their cash in the last quarter, they had significantly less in their campaign war chests compared to their Democratic opponents. House Democratic candidates had a total of $7.6 million on hand going into the second half of 2018. That’s more than double the GOP’s $3.4 million.

Thirty-nine of 59 Illinois Senate seats are on the ballot this November and 19 of them are contested between Democratic and Republican candidates. During the last fundraising quarter ending June 30, the 38 major party candidates raised more than $1.6 million and spent nearly $1.1 million. The candidates had almost $5 million on hand combined.

When comparing the two parties, Democrats slightly outraised Republicans, $858,866 to $689,623, respectively. However, the GOP’s $305,887 in expenditures was less than half of the Democrats $749,123 this quarter. Despite Democrats spending at a higher rate, both parties are relatively even going into the third fundraising quarter. Democrats had $2.4 million on hand and Republicans had $2.5 million on hand.

Rauner has greatly subsidized the state GOP, with his committee, Citizens for Rauner, transferring $36.5 million to the Illinois Republican Party since February 2013. During the last quarter, though, Citizens for Rauner only contributed $50,000 to that committee. In the current fundraising quarter, however, the governor’s committee contributed another $135,000 to the Illinois Republican Party and $2 million to the House Republican Organization.

Meanwhile, Democrats have their own major backer: J.B. Pritzker. During the last fundraising quarter, Pritzker’s campaign initiated “Blue Wave Illinois” to financially support Democratic candidates throughout the state. Between April 1 and June 30, Pritzker transferred $3.2 million to various Democratic party and candidate committees, including $1 million each to House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Democratic Majority and the Rock Island County Democratic Central Committee. He also provided $500,000 each to the Senate Democratic Victory Fund and the Illinois Democratic Heartland Committee. In the current fundraising quarter, Pritzker contributed another $2.5 million to just four Democratic Party committees.

This was the first campaign-reporting period after the March Primary elections, and it ended with more than four months before the General Election. So expect these numbers to significantly increase as November approaches.