Feds weigh in on lawsuit challenging how Illinois maintains voter registration rolls

By Newspaper Staff | July 23, 2025 |
Feds weigh in on lawsuit challenging how Illinois maintains voter registration rolls

Voters cast their ballots in Springfield during the 2024 general election in November. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Campbell)
The Justice Department is weighing in on a federal lawsuit that accuses the Illinois State Board of Elections of failing to properly maintain its voter rolls.
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Cook County Dems back Croke for comptroller, no endorsement for Senate race

By Newspaper Staff | July 18, 2025 |
Cook County Dems back Croke for comptroller, no endorsement for Senate race

Capitol News Illinois

Article Summary

The Cook County Democratic Party, one of the most powerful political organizations in the state, chose to back Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, in her bid to be the next state comptroller.
The comptroller endorsement sparked an intraparty fight, with House Speaker Chris Welch on one side and Senate President Don Harmon on the other.
The party made no endorsement in the race for U.S. Senate.

This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

CHICAGO — At a union hall on Chicago’s South Side, a powerful Democratic Party organization decided who to endorse in the March 17 primary in one key statewide race.
The Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee decided Friday to back Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, in her bid for Illinois comptroller, the state’s chief financial officer.
That decision sparked conflict between Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon, who backed different candidates.
In the race for U.S. senate however, the party declined to endorse. It’s the first open Senate election in the state since 2010.
“I think the party made the correct decision in making no endorsement in the U.S. Senate race,” Harmon told Capitol News Illinois. “It’s a marquee race with terrific candidates and I’m sure the voters will be able to make an informed decision without an endorsement.”

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch speaks in favor of slating state Rep. Margaret Croke as the Cook County Democratic Party’s choice for comptroller in the 2026 primary at a meeting Friday in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

But Harmon objected to the party’s endorsement in the comptroller’s race, sparking a protracted closed-door debate.
Ultimately, Croke bested a list of competitors that included state Sen. Karina Villa, a member of Harmon’s caucus in Springfield.
While an endorsement from the Cook County Democrats does not guarantee a win, it is a major step for a campaign in Illinois.
Cook County has about 40% of the state’s population, and its Democratic Party has been a dominant political force for decades. Beyond the potential for turning out votes in the state’s most populous county, an endorsement from the Cook County Democrats can be a litmus test for support from state-level Democrats.
The group of party insiders considering who to endorse includes Welch and Harmon — both from suburban Cook County — and the committee that oversees statewide endorsements is chaired by state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island.
Additionally, influential Democrats in the General Assembly, like Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago; Sen. Laura Murphy, D-Des Planes, and Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, were all present for the meeting.
Party backs Croke for comptroller
The race for comptroller, which opened up this week after sitting comptroller Susana Mendoza announced she was not seeking reelection, sparked a clash between several of the state’s most powerful politicians.
Five candidates asked for the party’s backing. Croke, Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim and Villa, D-West Chicago, were the favored candidates going into the meeting. Champaign County Auditor George Danos and former state Sen. Rickey Hendon also presented at the meeting.
Welch photo
Welch spoke at length in favor of Croke during the slating meeting, adding that he was “very happy to support” Croke. Croke is close to Gov. JB Pritzker, having worked in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and on his first campaign.
Meanwhile, Harmon backed Villa.
During discussions over comptroller candidates, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle also noted she believed it is “really important for this party to support a Latino for statewide office.”
Read more: Comptroller Mendoza won’t run for reelection, opening up statewide office
In a private session and on a very narrow vote, the subcommittee that recommends statewide endorsements backed Croke. Back in the public session, Harmon fought to try and reject the recommendation.
“We have a slate that does not have any representation from the Latino Caucus, no representation from the Asian Caucus, no one from outside the city of Chicago. I think this is the problem,” Harmon said.

Senate President Don Harmon watches during presentations from comptroller candidates at a meeting to decide who the Cook County Democratic Party will support. Harmon said he had concerns about diversity on the ticket and had backed Sen. Karina Villa. The party ultimately slated Croke. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

This sparked another closed-door debate after which Croke emerged with the ultimate endorsement, something that “disappointed” Harmon.
“I worry that the party was more divided than evidenced by the final outcome,” he said. “But it’ll be up to the voters.”
No endorsement for U.S. Senate
After Dick Durbin, Illinois’ current senior U.S. senator, announced his retirement, several candidates quickly popped up to replace him at the end of his final term.
The three frontrunners so far are Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly.
Read more: Who is contributing to Illinois’ U.S. Senate candidates?
Several other candidates are in the race and three spoke to party insiders Friday: Christopher Swan, Kevin Ryan and Jump Shepherd. Kelly did not appear at Friday’s meeting, instead having an ally speak on her behalf following travel issues after a late night of voting in Washington.
In the end, the Cook County Democrats didn’t endorse any of them, setting up a contentious primary fight between a current statewide office holder, the one-time state party chair and a man who has nearly 10-to-1 funding advantage.
Durbin, meanwhile, plans on mostly staying out of the race. The retiring senator said Friday that there are three good candidates in the race. While he said he hasn’t “ruled out completely” endorsing someone, he probably won’t.
“I’m not likely to endorse in the race,” Durbin said. “I may in some other races but not that one.”
Governor, other endorsements
The governor couldn’t make the meeting due to a family commitment. In his stead, Pritzker’s running mate Christian Mitchell addressed the collection of party insiders. In a brief speech, Mitchell echoed many of Pritzker campaign talking points.

Christian Mitchell, who is Gov. JB Pritzker’s running mate, took pointed questions from Cook County Democrats on Friday during a meeting about slating candidates for the 2026 primary. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

But when the floor was opened to questions, Mitchell started taking heat.
Mitchell, who oversaw Pritzker’s cannabis legalization efforts early in the governor’s first term, once tweeted that he was “stunned at the level of ignorance” at a Chicago City Council meeting, something that multiple alderpeople in attendance on Friday took exception to.
“I don’t recall using that term, but if I did, I apologize,” Mitchell said when questioned by Chicago Ald. David Moore.
Mitchell also faced heat from Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez, who pressed him on the administration’s relationship to the Latino community. Several Chicago alderpeople also interrogated Mitchell over the administration’s plans on Chicagoland transit, Chicago Public Schools and the closure of manufacturing plants on Chicago’s South Side.
But Mitchell did have his fans in the audience, with one committee member noting that Mitchell’s appearance at a fundraiser helped increase donations, something Mitchell said he wanted to replicate.
“I want to go everywhere, I want to be everywhere,” he said.
The party voted to endorse the Pritzker-Mitchell ticket, which faces no serious challengers within the Democratic party.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Treasurer Michael Frerichs and Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias also received endorsements.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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Study: Education still pays, but barriers to upward mobility persist in Illinois

By Newspaper Staff | July 18, 2025 |
Study: Education still pays, but barriers to upward mobility persist in Illinois

Capitol News Illinois

Article Summary

A new study shows there are barriers to upward mobility in Illinois, especially for women and people of color.
People who grow up in lower-income families tend to earn less as adults than those from wealthier families, even after earning similar degrees and going to work in similar fields.
Educational attainment and career choices are still the biggest factors that influence future earnings.

This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

For generations, America has been thought of as the land of opportunity, a place where anyone who worked and studied hard could grow up to achieve any goal they set for themselves.
That idea has had especially strong roots in Illinois, the “Land of Lincoln,” where a young man born in a log cabin on America’s frontier rose from rail-splitter to self-taught lawyer and president of the United States.
But a new study suggests that the American dream is still more elusive for some people in Illinois than for others, and that the pathway up the economic ladder is not easily scaled.
The study, entitled “Precarious Prospects,” tracked a cohort of millennials from Illinois – more than 340,000 students from the senior classes of 2008-2012 – from graduation, through their post-secondary careers and into young adulthood.
The study was a joint project conducted by the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative, or IWERC, the Discovery Partners Institute, the University of Illinois, and the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.
It found that educational attainment is still a strong predicter of a person’s future earnings as an adult. So too is the industry that a person chooses for a career.
Other factors can also influence a person’s ability to complete a higher education degree, including their race, ethnicity and gender.

Capitol News Illinois · Upward mobility in Illinois

Class-based barriers
The study also found that a person’s own economic background – whether they grew up rich or poor – also strongly influences their future earnings. Students who grew up in higher-income households tended to earn more than those who grew up in lower-income families, in part because students from higher-income families were more likely to complete a college degree than lower-income students.
But perhaps most surprisingly, the study found that even among those who earn similar degrees and go to work in similar industries, a student’s own economic background influenced their future earnings. That is, students from lower-income families tend to earn less than those from wealthier families, even after they went on to earn similar credentials.
Further, the study found, among students from lower-income families, Black and Latino students and women tended to earn less than their white and male counterparts.
“The racial and gender disparities obviously are real, and there’s a lot of research showing that, but I don’t think it’s all that’s going on,” Sarah Cashdollar, associate director of IWERC and a lead author of the report, said in a podcast interview with Capitol News Illinois.

“One thing is that the same degree, such as a bachelor’s degree, can have a very different payoff depending on the college that the student went to,” she said. “And there’s research that’s found students from higher income families are more likely to go to colleges that have things like many internship opportunities or other work-based learning. More advising, more networking opportunities. And for some fields, those things are essential to landing a good job.”
“There’s also research showing that higher income students have greater access to social networks in general that can provide those connections,” she said.
Education and career choice
Among all the factors the study examined, educational attainment had by far the largest impact on a person’s future earnings. It found there was a gap of nearly $40,000 a year in earnings for someone with an advanced degree compared to someone with only a high school diploma.
The study also found that regardless of what type of degree or credential a person earns, the industry in which they work has a big impact on their future earnings.
“For certificates and associate’s degrees, we see higher earnings for construction, for mechanic and repair technologies,” Cashdollar said. “So these are things like auto mechanics, HVAC techs, electricians, and also precision production. … These are all areas that tend to have unions, and they also have been experiencing higher demand due to lower supply in recent years, and so there’s some upward wage pressure in those in those occupations.”
“And then for the bachelor’s, there are many, many industries that offer higher earnings,” she said. “Two of the highest earnings were engineering and computer and information sciences.”
But the gaps between people with similar degrees from different economic backgrounds was still significant – $3,753 annually for those with less than a bachelor’s degree, and $5,028 for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Still to come
The Precarious Prospects study was the first of a two-part research project made possible through a data sharing partnership between the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, the Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois State University.
Cashdollar said the second phase of the project, due to be published later this year, will focus on those students who manage to succeed in climbing the economic ladder, despite the barriers they face.
“To give a preview, we found that there were pathways at all levels of education toward higher earning careers, but they were predominantly concentrated in bachelor’s degree pathways and even higher masters and doctoral and professional (programs).”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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Pritzker seeks more regulatory authority over homeowners insurance business

By Newspaper Staff | July 17, 2025 |
Pritzker seeks more regulatory authority over homeowners insurance business

Capitol News Illinois

Article Summary

Gov. JB Pritzker is asking lawmakers to pass legislation this fall to give the state more control over the rising cost of homeowners insurance.
State Farm, based in Bloomington, recently announced it is raising premiums by an average of 27.2%, due mainly to the risk of losses from severe weather.
The Consumer Federation of America describes Illinois’ current regulatory environment as “toothless” and ranks the state second in the nation for having the fastest-rising insurance premiums in the country.

This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker is asking state lawmakers for more authority to regulate the homeowners insurance market in Illinois.
His comments came after the Bloomington-based State Farm Fire and Casualty Company notified the Illinois Department of Insurance that it was raising premiums for residential property casualty insurance in Illinois by an average 27.2%.
In a statement July 10, Pritzker called on lawmakers to pass legislation in the upcoming fall veto session, “that prevents insurance companies from taking advantage of consumers through severe and unnecessary rate hikes like those proposed by State Farm.”
The veto session is scheduled to begin Oct. 14.
“Over the past six years, our state economy has flourished based on transparent markets and fair competition,” Pritzker said. “State Farm’s actions are antithetical to the core principles that the Illinois business community is built on.”
The increase will raise the average cost of a State Farm homeowners’ policy in Illinois to about $2,175 a year, up from $1,700 before the increase, according to State Farm.
The higher rates took effect July 15 for new policies and will go into effect Aug. 15 for renewals of existing policies.
Current regulations
Although Pritzker was not specific about what kind of increased regulatory authority he wants lawmakers to consider, some consumer advocates have called for giving the state Department of Insurance broad authority to review, modify or even reject proposed rate hikes.
Under current state law, companies are required to file their rates with the Department of Insurance, and the agency can review consumer complaints to determine whether the rates being charged are consistent with those filings.
The department also has the authority to conduct examinations to determine whether a company is paying out claims in a timely manner. It can also conduct examinations into a company’s financial condition and solvency.
But currently, according to the agency, Illinois is the only state in the country that does not prohibit rates from being “inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory,” which means it has no authority to reject a rate filing on those grounds.
Douglas Heller, director of insurance for the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, described Illinois’ law as “among the most toothless in the nation.”
“Almost every state in the country has a law that says for auto, home and most other lines of insurance as well, rates cannot be excessive,” he said in an interview. “Now, it doesn’t mean that the regulators around the country do a great job or even have the tools to enforce that very strictly … but Illinois doesn’t even have the language that prohibits excessive rates for homeowners insurance companies.”
In April, CFA issued a report that said from 2021 to 2024, Illinois ranked second in the nation for having the greatest increases in homeowners insurance premiums. Average premiums in Illinois rose 50% over that period, more than any other state except Utah, where rates went up 59%.
“At a minimum, Illinois should empower the Department of Insurance to reject or modify excessive rate hikes, which would represent a basic consumer protection that residents in almost every other state enjoy,” Abe Scarr, director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement in response to the report.
Even with those increases, though, the report indicated that rates in Illinois were relatively modest compared to some other states, particularly those that experience more frequent natural disasters. Florida, Louisiana and Oklahoma ranked highest in average premiums.
In recent years, lawmakers have given the Department of Insurance broader authority to regulate premiums in the health insurance market.
Last year, Pritzker signed legislation giving the agency authority to review and reject proposed rate increases in large-group health insurance plans. That law also prohibited companies from engaging in certain “utilization management” practices that steer patients toward cheaper therapies and medications to lower payouts.to lower payouts.
Also last year, Pritzker named a new director of the agency, former state Sen. Ann Gillespie, who had served on the Senate Insurance Committee.
But the agency does not yet have that kind of regulatory authority over property casualty insurance policies for homeowners, renters and condominium owners, a fact that consumer advocates say puts Illinois out of step with the rest of the nation.
Reasons for rate hikes
In his statement, Pritzker accused State Farm of raising rates in Illinois to cover losses the company has suffered in other high-risk states like Florida.
“These increases are predicated on catastrophe loss numbers that are entirely inconsistent with the Illinois Department of Insurance’s own analysis — indicating that State Farm is shifting out-of-state costs onto the homeowners of our state,” he said. “Hard-working Illinoisans should not be paying more to protect beach houses in Florida.”
But State Farm strongly denied that suggestion, saying the increases were directly related to the cost of weather-related disasters in Illinois.
“For example, last year in the state of Illinois alone, we paid out more than $638 million in hail damage claims,” State Farm spokeswoman Gina Morss-Fischer said in an interview. “That was just in Illinois, and it was second only to the state of Texas. And this is the kind of thing that we’ve started to see more frequently.
“And of course, we’re also seeing the increase in replacement costs, longer waits for replacement materials. And these are all things that contribute to the need to make this difficult business decision,” she said.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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Comptroller Mendoza won’t run for reelection, opening up statewide office

By Newspaper Staff | July 16, 2025 |
Comptroller Mendoza won’t run for reelection, opening up statewide office

Capitol News Illinois

Article Summary

Susana Mendoza will not run for reelection as Illinois comptroller, the state’s chief financial officer. She is rumored to be considering a run for Chicago mayor.
Mendoza held the comptroller’s office during the worst budgetary crisis in state history and through the COVID-19 pandemic.
A key step in how Cook County Democrats choose who to endorse for statewide office is happening this week.
Candidates are expected to announce whether they will run to replace Mendoza in the coming weeks.

This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest information regarding candidates seeking to be slated by Cook County Democrats.
CHICAGO — After almost a decade, Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza will not seek another term as the state’s chief financial officer.
Mendoza, who took office in December 2016 after beating an ally of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in a special election, has overseen the state’s financial systems through both the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst budget crisis any state has faced in modern history.
At a news conference Wednesday, Mendoza said she’s not running for reelection in the 2026 comptroller’s race, so she will have time to decide her next career move.
“I’m going to figure out what the right move is for our family, for our city, our state, find out where I’m needed most, that next biggest challenge that I need to take on,” Mendoza said.
Prior to taking statewide office, Mendoza was the first woman to be the Chicago City Clerk. Mendoza previously spent a decade in the Illinois House of Representatives.
It’s been widely speculated that Mendoza, who ran for Chicago mayor in 2019, is eyeing a run to unseat sitting Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in 2027.
While she didn’t commit to a run, she said she is “leaving the door open.” Several U.S. House seats are up for grabs, along with Illinois’ first open U.S. Senate seat since 2010.
But when asked whether she was interested in a position in Congress, Mendoza laughed.
“No thank you,” she quickly said Thursday, before moving on to questions about a potential mayoral bid.
Comptroller vacancy
The comptroller’s office, traditionally a low-visibility role, became a high-stakes proxy battle between Democratic and Republican power brokers during the budget impasse of the mid-2010s.
Mendoza became the most vocal and high-profile statewide Democratic foil to Republicans at the height of the more than two-year budget impasse between Rauner and Democrats in the General Assembly. After Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka died in 2014, Rauner appointed Leslie Munger to the position. Mendoza beat Munger with 49.5% of the vote in a special election in 2016.
Mendoza gained statewide visibility for her frequent videos assailing Rauner and highlighting that the state was accruing a massive “bill backlog” driven by ongoing court-mandated expenditures amid dwindling revenue brought on by the impasse.
She won reelection in 2018 and 2022, routinely posting the widest margins of any statewide elected official.
No Republican, meanwhile, has won statewide office since Rauner in 2014, and few have come especially close. This puts the focus for replacing Mendoza on the Democratic primary process. The announcement creates an opportunity for a new Democrat to make a run for an open statewide office for the first time since 2018.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza answers questions from reporter, curious to know if she will run for Chicago mayor in 2027. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

Mendoza said she wanted to make the announcement early enough for people interested in replacing her to “make their pitches” to party officials. The Cook County Democratic Party — a powerhouse in statewide party politics — is holding its “slating” meetings this week to decide which candidates the party will endorse.
Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, is expected to appear at the slating for statewide candidates and make a formal announcement about her 2026 plans next week, according to sources close to the representative.
“With chaos unfolding at the national level, Illinoisans need steady state leadership and deserve a Comptroller who is prepared to lead with transparency, efficiency, and integrity,” Croke said in a statement after Mendoza’s announcement.
Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim is also expected to appear at the Cook County slating meeting, with an announcement about her plans in the coming weeks.
“Susana Mendoza raised the bar for transparency and accountability, and I intend to build on that legacy,” Kim said.
Sen. Karina Villa, D-Chicago, is also scheduled to appear at the slating meeting to discuss a potential comptroller bid. Sen. Javier Cervantes, D-Chicago, was previously on the agenda, although his name was later removed.
Mendoza said she hopes her replacement is committed to serving the entire state, noting that while she is a Chicagoan, she said she has a “very soft spot in my heart for southern Illinois.”
Mayoral ambitions
While Mendoza did not commit to a run for mayor, she did speak at length about the needs of the city.
“Chicago is in dire need of competency, someone who understands the needs of the city, who understands how important the role of the city is to the good functioning of the whole state,” Mendoza said. “And I think we’ve had two very unsuccessful mayors in a row.”
Mendoza stressed public safety and Chicago’s need for a growth-centered economic policy.
“It’s not just our feathered friends that have flown south, it’s the most important bird in Chicago: the crane,” Mendoza said. “You can look at a city and gauge its financial health by the number of cranes that are in the sky. And, right now, you have an unobstructed, picture-perfect view of this city.”

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza announces she will not seek reelection alongside her husband, David Szostak. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

If she runs, Mendoza could be joined by several other prominent Illinois politicians in the race for mayor. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is also rumored to be considering a run.
Mendoza made her announcement at Los Comales, a restaurant in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood that specializes in Mexico City-style tacos. Christina Gonzalez, the co-owner of the Los Comales chain and daughter of its founder, noted that Mendoza was from the neighborhood.
“She was always a customer here,” Gonzalez said. “Her parents brought her here and she knew my dad — my dad loved her.”
It’s the same restaurant where she announced her first run for state representative more than 20 years ago and her ill-fated mayoral bid in 2019.
Gonzalez said the restaurant, which was mostly empty aside from Mendoza’s supporters and reporters, has faced a significant slowdown in business recently, thanks to rumors about immigration enforcement.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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Who is contributing to Illinois’ U.S. Senate candidates?

By Newspaper Staff | July 16, 2025 |
Who is contributing to Illinois’ U.S. Senate candidates?

Capitol News Illinois

Article Summary

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi raised the most money in the first quarter of fundraising for the 2026 Illinois Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and has already launched a TV ad.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton received money from some of the most politically connected donors in state politics, from Gov. JB Pritzker to lobbyists and owners of Chicago sports teams.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly had the lowest fundraising total but has more than $2 million available.
Ten other candidates in both parties have also filed federal campaign committees but did not report substantial contributions.

This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

TV advertising has already begun in Illinois’ 2026 Democrat primary for U.S. Senate, and new fundraising numbers released Tuesday show the race is shaping up to be expensive.
The quarterly reports submitted to the Federal Elections Commission shed light on how candidates are spending money as well as who is contributing to them. Donations are pouring in for U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton — the three most high-profile Democrats so far to launch their campaign.
Gov. JB Pritzker has already put his thumb on the scale of the race, endorsing Stratton a day after she launched her campaign in April. But the billionaire governor has a financial stake in the contest as well.
Pritzker contributed $3,500 to Stratton’s primary campaign, and another $3,500 earmarked for the general election. It’s the maximum amount allowed in an election cycle for an individual contribution under federal rules, meaning he can’t contribute anything close to the $300 million he’s dumped into his own campaigns for governor.
Pritzker can still find other avenues to financially support Stratton later, such as through a dark money political action committee he launched in 2023. And he wasn’t the only Pritzker to donate to Stratton. His wife, MK, his two adult children, and his cousins Adam, John, Gigi and Jennifer, all contributed the maximum $7,000. Jennifer Pritzker is a former supporter of President Donald Trump who has more recently supported Democratic candidates.
Kelly vs. Pritzker round 3
The race has also set a third battle between a Pritzker ally and Kelly.
Underlying the contest is Kelly’s past history as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. She was elected party chair in 2021 against Pritzker backed candidate and Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris to replace Mike Madigan who bowed out of the job after losing the speakership that year. But the following year, Kelly ended her bid for reelection as party chair after it became clear she would not have enough support to beat State Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, for the leadership role. Hernandez was also backed by Pritzker.
Read more: Democratic Party chair bows out in re-election bid, paving way for state Rep. Lisa Hernandez
Kelly, of Matteson, argued a lot of people on the party’s state central committee “were sad to see me go.”
“The people in the party, they know me, they know the work that I’ve done,” Kelly told Capitol News Illinois last week. “Despite what happened, I’ve still been an effective leader. I’m the only one that’s been an effective leader on every level of government and has delivered on every level.”
Kelly says money isn’t going to decide the race.
“They have a lot of money, but you know what, I’m just using every opportunity to tell my story and I don’t feel like I need the most money in the race to win the race because I feel like I have an excellent story to tell,” Kelly said.
Between her two campaign committees for her U.S. House seat and a new committee for her Senate bid, Kelly raised $565,775 from April 1 through June 30 and has $2 million in her campaign accounts.
Her donors include a lengthy list of corporate political action committees, many local officials in her 2nd Congressional District, and some notable names in Illinois government. They include former state Sen. Jacqueline Collins, Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt and Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon. Gordon also contributed to Stratton’s campaign.
Stratton’s contributions
Stratton’s cash balance of $666,416 is the smallest in the race, as it is her first time running for federal office and first time running for office alone since she was a state representative in 2016. She raised just over $1 million since launching her campaign in late April.
Stratton has pledged not to take any money from corporate political action committees, though Krishnamoorthi and Kelly have received such donations. She returned a contribution from the central Illinois energy company Marquis Energy’s PAC, although accepted contributions from several Marquis family members who hold top leadership positions at the company, according to FEC filings.
The rest of her list of donors is a “who’s who” of Illinois Democrats.
Stratton has touted many endorsements from members of the General Assembly in recent days and 12 have contributed to her campaign. The list also includes many Lake County Democrats, including State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, and county party chair Lauren Beth Gash.
Stratton also received support from owners of most of the city’s sports teams: Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts and her wife; White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, along with his son and Bulls President Michael Reinsdorf; and Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz.
Other donors come from all sectors of state politics, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, former legislators, high-profile lobbyists and consultants, Pritzker’s top political advisor, business executives, and lawyers at Chicago’s top law firms.
Some donors also hold positions in state government, including Department of Human Rights Director Jim Bennett and the Department of Labor’s top attorney, Deborah Baker.
Stratton has also formed her own political action committee called “Level Up.” Fundraising numbers for the committee have not yet been released as political action committees follow a different reporting schedule than campaigns.
Krishnamoorthi continues strong fundraising
Krishnamoorthi, of Schaumburg, has been one of the most prolific fundraisers in Congress, reporting millions of dollars in contributions every quarter. His first months running for Senate were no different.
Krishnamoorthi raised just shy of $3 million between his House campaign account and new Senate campaign account. Candidates running for a new federal office are generally allowed to transfer funds from their old campaign to their new campaign. In total, Krishnamoorthi has $21 million on hand.
“I’m just blessed to have a lot of individual donors throughout Illinois and elsewhere who believe in my mission,” Krishnamoorthi told Capitol News Illinois.
The March 17, 2026, primary is still eight months away, but Krishnamoorthi launched the election cycle’s first TV ad on Tuesday, which cost $500,000 for the first week, according to his campaign. It’s airing in TV markets around the state and on digital platforms.

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The 30-second segment serves as an introduction of Krishnamoorthi, who currently represents the 8th Congressional District in the northwest suburbs. It portrays him as a fighter against “bullies,” which is how he describes Trump.
“When I see underdogs hurt by a rigged system, I fight back … Bullies like Trump can call us names, but you can just call me Raja,” Krishnamoorthi says in the ad, playing off his “just call me Raja” slogan that has been a hallmark of his TV advertisements since he first ran for Congress in 2016.
Most of Krishnamoorthi’s fundraising came from individual donors and less than $200,000 was from political action committees. But unlike his opponents, he had very few donors who are involved in state politics. One of the most notable names contributing to his campaign was Vinai Thummalapally, a former ambassador to Belize.
Other candidates
Six Republicans have filed as candidates with the Federal Elections Commission but did not raise substantial amounts of money. They include Casey Chlebek, a former IT professional who is active in Polish-American civic groups; Douglas Bennett, who ran unsuccessfully in the 10th Congressional District in 2018; Air Force veteran John Goodman; Pamela Denise Long, an occupational therapist and former political commentator for Newsweek; former Illinois International Port District board member Cary Capparelli, and Westchester resident Panagioti Bartzis.
On the Democrat side, four other candidates have filed with the FEC: Kevin Ryan, a Marine veteran and diplomat; Christopher Swann, a program manager for Feeding America; Carmi resident Stan Leavell, and Awisi Bustos, CEO of the Illinois Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs.
Bustos is daughter-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, who represented the 17th Congressional District for 10 years. Cheri Bustos is not supporting Awisi Bustos’ campaign amid an ongoing divorce case, the D.C. insider newsletter Punchbowl reported.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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