EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Outside political action committees funded by Gov. JB Pritzker, cryptocurrency executives and supporters of U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi are bombarding Illinois televisions and mailboxes with advertisements ahead of the March 17 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
WHY IT MATTERS: Donors are trying to insert their influence as recent polls show a tightening race between Krishnamoorthi and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. The ads are lobbing accusations that some candidates are sellouts to donors or supported by Republican-aligned contributors.
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PRITZKER’S MONEY: The biggest outside spender in the race is the Illinois Future PAC, which has spent at least $11.8 million, according to federal campaign finance records. Pritzker himself has put as much as $5 million into the PAC, but other family members have been significant contributors as well. The largest disclosed contribution in the last two months was $250,000 from Laura Ricketts, an owner of the Chicago Cubs and a prolific Democratic donor.
Illinois Future PAC has released five broadcast ads supporting Stratton that have focused on her pledge to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Pritzker’s endorsement. But the latest ad released this week goes after Krishnamoorthi, accusing him of being “for sale” to his donors.
“Illinois Future PAC is overwhelmingly funded by Gov. Pritzker, a lifelong Democrat who has supported candidates up and down the ballot in Illinois and across the nation for decades,” said Illinois Future PAC spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh. “The PACs supporting Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly are funded by out-of-state MAGA and crypto billionaires who want to buy seats in Congress to prevent attempts to regulate their industry.”
ANTI-STRATTON: A pair of cryptocurrency PACs have spent more than $5.5 million on ads attacking Stratton. TV ads by Fairshake accuse Stratton of being an ally to convicted former House Speaker Mike Madigan and criticizes one of her outside supporters, the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, for accepting money from an ICE contractor. Krishnamoorthi has been attacked by Stratton for also accepting a donation from the head of a company that has a contract with ICE.
“Despite Congressman Krishnamoorthi spending the past decade lining his campaign coffers with tens of millions of dollars from corporate PACs, MAGA allies, Trump advisors, and ICE contractors, he’s not moving the needle with voters, and he’s still hoping a MAGA-backed crypto PAC will bail out his campaign in the final stretch,” Stratton spokesperson Allison Janowski said in a statement.
WHAT’S FAIRSHAKE: The crypto PAC is largely funded by Coinbase and the Andreessen and Horowitz venture capital firm. According to the New York Times, the men behind the firm, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, gave $11 million to MAGA Inc. – a PAC supporting President Donald Trump. Another PAC aligned with Fairshake – Protect Progress – is spending $89,900 supporting Robin Kelly.
DIVIDE THE VOTE: Other groups are supporting both Krishnamoorthi and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly. The Indian American Impact Fund shares a roster of donors with Krishnamoorthi’s campaign but has spent $750,000 supporting Krishnamoorthi and Kelly while attacking Stratton. Indian American Impact has endorsed Krishnamoorthi. A similar group – Progressive Values Illinois – has spent $303,541 on mailers with the same objectives. Some Progressive Values donors have also contributed to Republican campaigns.
WHY BOOST KELLY? Kelly and Stratton are both Black women with bases of support on Chicago’s South Side and in the south suburbs. Many political insiders believe a stronger performance by Kelly – a distant third in most public polling – will siphon away votes that would otherwise go to Stratton. Krishnamoorthi is expected to perform strongest in the suburban collar counties and downstate.
At the same time, Krishnamoorthi has hit a polling ceiling despite spending more than $20 million on TV and digital advertising. His own internal numbers show his support ranging from the mid-30s to low-40s, meaning he could stand to benefit from a more evenly divided field.
“Illinoisans cannot trust Juliana Stratton,” Krishnamoorthi spokesperson Hannah Goss said in a statement. “She condemns corporate PAC money but has accepted nearly a quarter of a million dollars in corporate contributions and relies on dark money super PACs to boost her Senate bid. She condemns MAGA money, but one of those super PACs is funded by a top ICE contractor that helps to run the Broadview ICE facility. Her rampant hypocrisy is exactly why Illinoisans will reject her at the polls next week.”
WHERE’S KELLY: As PACs largely for and against Stratton and Krishnamoorthi battle on TV, Kelly’s campaign released their own ad on Tuesday trying to cut through the noise: “My opponents want to attack each other while we struggle to survive,” Kelly says, pushing over a TV showing the attack ads.
“This campaign should be about what matters: the people of Illinois,” Kelly said in a statement to Capitol News Illinois. “My opponents need to do more than talk a big game about campaign finance reform. Raja and Juliana should tell their super PACs to take a hike, pull down their ads, and let voters focus on the issues they care most about.”
LOOKING FORWARD: A week from now, we’ll know which ads had some effect as voters head to the polls on March 17.
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