Pritzker, Emanuel, and Raoul Eclipse Competitors in Election Spending

Democratic Candidate J.B. Pritzker outspent incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner by nearly 3 to 1, $20.1 million to $7.8 million, respectively.

Both candidates focused heavily on projecting their messages to voters this quarter with advertising. Pritzker more than doubled Rauner’s advertising spending with $10,792,962, 54 percent of his expenditures this quarter. Pier 91 Media out of Washington, D.C., received $6,252,923 from Pritzker’s campaign for media buys. Pritzker also paid $4,457,245 Shorr, Johnson, Magnus Strategic Media for media production. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, company has now received about $38 million from Pritzker’s campaign.

Meanwhile, Rauner spent $4,780,866, 69 percent of his expenditures this quarter, on advertising, including $3,929,987 to Target Enterprises, LLC, in Sherman Oaks, California, for placed media and $785,984 to Advictory, LLC, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for online media.

Pritzker reported $30,384,299 in contributions this quarter; however, $30 million came from his own bank account. The venture capitalist has more than $18.3 million on hand. He has pledged to entirely self-fund his campaign and will donate all other contributions to other Democratic committees. Rauner raised $1,066,192 this quarter and has $31,758,244 on hand. His two largest donations were $200,000from Donald Edwards, CEO of Flexpoint Partners, LLC, and $100,000 from Kent Dauten, co-founder of Keystone Capital, Inc. Read more about campaign fundraising by Rauner and Pritzker here.

Republican State Sen. Sam McCann, who his campaigning under the new Conservative Party, was able to raise $228,193 and spent $219,575 this quarter. He only has $73,251 on hand, but that pales in comparison to Libertarian candidate Grayson “Kash” Jackson’s $985. Jackson collected $4,270 this quarter and spent $5,578.

In Chicago’s packed field of mayoral candidates, incumbent Rahm Emanuel remains the clear fundraising and spending leader. The two-term mayor spent $708,671, 1.4 times all his challengers combined. He also raised more than $6 million, which is 79 percent of the $7.6 million raised among all the candidates this quarter. Emanuel reported having more than $7.5 million on hand when the quarter closed June 30.

Campaign fundraising skyrocketed for the 2019 Chicago mayoral election following Willie Wilson’s $100,000 contribution to his campaign in April. This lifted thecontribution caps for all candidates. Emanuel’s top two donations are $500,000 from Michael Sacks, CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management, and $305,000 from Samuel Mencoff, Co-CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners.

The majority, $424,678 or 60 percent, of Emanuel’s expenditures went to consulting this quarter. And $262,800, 62 percent, of those consulting expenditures went to Anzalone Liszt Grove Research, a nationwide public opinion research firm specializing in message development and strategy.

The top fundraiser among Emanuel’s challengers this quarter was former Chicago Police Board Chair Lori Lightfoot who raised $510,796, but she only launched her campaign on May 11, more than a month after the reporting period started. Lightfoot received a significant fraction of her contributions from attorneys, including $77,000from attorneys at her former employer, Mayer Brown, LLP. Her largest donation is $50,000 Mary Dempsey, president at DePaul College Prep. Lightfoot spent $45,213 this quarter with nearly half of it, $21,973, went to paying campaign staff and only $2,039 going toward advertising.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas followed Lightfoot, raising $449,370 and has $435,208 on hand. Vallas’ largest donor is Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, who provided Vallas with $200,000 — nearly half of his campaign war chest — via donations from five companies he owns. Vallas reserved nearly all of his cash and only spent $1,367. His biggest itemized expenditure was $535 to PayPal for processing fees.

Following Vallas was Wilson, who raised $296,576; however, $281,906 came from his own pocket. Former Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy was fourth in fundraising among Emanuel’s challengers with $251,159. He spent $163,950 with half of it, $81,498, going to consulting.

Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown spent $37,835, slightly more than the $37,468 she raised during the quarter. Almost 42 percent of those expenses went to advertising, including $9,500 paid to Foremost Strategy, LLP, in Chicago for digital services.

Democrat State Sen. Kwame Raoul led his Republican opponent in all factors in this fundraising quarter and raised $928,935, spent $208,873, and has $783,514 on hand. Erika Harold, an attorney for Meyer Capel in Champaign, raised $283,954, slightly more than a third of Raoul. She also spent less than half of Raoul, $99,335, and has $232,450 remaining in her campaign account, about 30 percent of the Chicago Democrat.

A sizable fraction of Harold’s expenditures was geared toward advertising, including $34,665 paid to Xpress Professional Services in Springfield for digital advertisement. Her campaign also spent $21,623 on consulting, including $10,837 to Red Leader Strategies, Inc., in Naperville. Meanwhile, Raoul outspent Harold more than 2 to 1, with about a 30 percent going to his campaign’s payroll. However, Raoul only spent about 37 percent of what Harold did on advertising, $13,294.

Contribution limits for the election to replace AG Lisa Madiagn were broken on June 26 when Fight Back for a Better Tomorrow made a $255,000 contribution supporting Raoul. The independent expenditure committee is headed by Operating Engineers Local 150 President Jim Sweeney, who is an ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan. The Super PAC allocated more than $1.5 million during the Primary Election season opposing Democratic State Rep. Scott Drury and former Gov. Pat Quinn.