Illinois Primary Spending Hits $125 Million in Congressional Races

Democratic primary races in Illinois saw unprecedented spending of $125 million across five competitive congressional contests. Outside groups poured in $70 million while candidates spent $54 million, reshaping the state's congressional delegation with five new nominees.

A record-breaking $125 million was spent to transform Illinois’ congressional representation during Tuesday’s primary elections.

Illinois Democrats selected five fresh faces as their congressional nominees in open districts expected to stay blue this November, marking a significant generational shift in the state’s political landscape.

The expensive and chaotic primary battle featured approximately $70 million from external organizations and $54 million in direct candidate expenditures across five hotly contested races for vacant U.S. Senate and House positions.

Such intense, big-money competition is uncommon for Illinois, a state traditionally characterized by organized political machinery rather than wide-open electoral battles. This cycle proved exceptional due to an unprecedented wave of retirements that opened doors for fresh representation throughout the ticket. When U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin declared last year he would not pursue a sixth term, it triggered two House members to seek his position. The domino effect from Durbin’s departure, combined with three additional Chicago-area Democratic representatives stepping down, resulted in more than one-quarter of the state’s U.S. House delegation being up for grabs for the first time in over 70 years.

This situation attracted numerous candidates and massive financial investments.

The Senate primary alone accumulated over $34 million in independent spending. To put this in perspective, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan political spending watchdog, only nine Senate general election races in 2024 attracted more outside money.

In a state featuring expensive media markets like Chicago, such enormous sums are quickly depleted. Ten political action committees each reported spending at least $1 million independently across the five competitive contests. Two organizations — Illinois Future PAC, which received a minimum of $5 million from Gov. JB Pritzker, and cryptocurrency-supported Fairshake — each exceeded $10 million in expenditures.

Political action committees backed by cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence interests invested heavily in four Illinois contests. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which advocates for U.S.-Israel relations, also contributed millions.

In four out of five contested House primaries for open seats, external groups outspent all candidates combined. This phenomenon is highly unusual: OpenSecrets data shows that in 2024’s general election, fewer than 50 federal races out of nearly 470 saw outside groups outspend the actual candidates.

For the Senate Democratic primary, external spending heavily favored eventual victor Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. She received both the most support and faced the most opposition. Outside organizations invested over $16 million supporting her campaign while spending approximately $11 million against her. Her official campaign reported nearly $2.8 million in Federal Election Commission filings.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who trailed Stratton by roughly 7 percentage points as of Wednesday morning with most votes tallied, invested almost $24 million from his personal campaign treasury. External groups spent more than $4 million working against his candidacy.

These external spending figures reflect 24- and 48-hour Federal Election Commission reports filed through Tuesday evening, while campaign expenditure data represents the most recent FEC documents covering spending through Feb. 25.

The sole other contest where outside spending exceeded $10 million was Illinois’ 9th District, encompassing Chicago’s North Shore suburban communities. This race initially featured over a dozen candidates, but three contenders — a mayor, a state legislator, and a former media professional with substantial online support — attracted most external attention.

Kat Abughazaleh, the former media professional who could have become the first Gen Z woman in Congress, was the only candidate facing entirely negative outside spending. State Sen. Laura Fine received more than $4.3 million in support from Elect Chicago Women, a newly formed super PAC. Primary winner Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss secured over half a million each from 314 Action Fund and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.

Elect Chicago Women also invested more than $1.4 million opposing Biss.

The remaining three open House races featuring large candidate pools each witnessed between $8 and $9 million in total expenditures. The 2nd District topped this group: Winner Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller received backing from over $4.3 million through an external organization called Affordable Chicago Now, which has not yet revealed its funding sources.

While some organizations maintain obvious connections to industries like cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, the financial backers of other major spenders remain unknown. Besides Affordable Chicago, both Elect Chicago Women and Chicago Progressive Partnership have not disclosed their donors, meaning the true source of this massive spending will remain unclear until PAC reporting deadlines arrive later this month.