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A contentious primary season in Illinois comes to a close Tuesday as Democratic voters pick their nominees, and likely general election winners, for a rare open Senate seat and several open House seats.
The Democratic primary in the contest to succeed retiring Sen. Richard J. Durbin has intensified in the campaign’s final weeks. Recent polls have shown Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton locked in a close race, with Rep. Robin Kelly a distant third.
The three have sparred over campaign finance and pushed back on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. Krishnamoorthi’s closing ad released last week highlighted his own status as an immigrant.
“It wasn’t easy, but when things got tough our neighbors had our backs,” he says. “That’s why stopping Trump and ICE’s attacks on our communities is deeply personal to me.”
Kelly introduced a resolution to impeach Kristi Noem, whom Trump ousted as his Homeland Security secretary earlier this month. A Kelly campaign ad called for dismantling ICE, “and get it the hell out of Illinois.”
Stratton, meanwhile, has pushed to “abolish ICE” altogether, saying the agency cannot be overhauled.
If elected, Stratton or Kelly would become the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate, which The New York Times reported last week adds another dynamic to a contest that could see Stratton and Kelly, who is backed by the Congressional Black Caucus, split votes from Black supporters.
The campaign also represents a test of super PAC strength, an emerging theme in this year’s Democratic primaries. Stratton’s allies, including a super PAC partially funded by billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker, have spent $11.8 million boosting her campaign.
But Fairshake, a cryptocurrency-backed super PAC, has spent $9.8 million opposing Stratton, seemingly to boost Krishnamoorthi, while Protect Progress, another super PAC with ties to crypto interests, dropped nearly half a million dollars opposing Stratton.
On the House side
The Senate race isn’t the only one that has put a spotlight on super PAC involvement in Democratic campaigns. Outside groups have spent millions across four open Chicago-area House districts: the seats of retiring longtime Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny K. Davis and the ones that Krishnamoorthi and Kelly are vacating.
In the 2nd District, former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is making a comeback bid more than 13 years after resigning from the House and later serving prison time over misusing campaign funds. The other leading contenders in the 10-person Democratic primary to succeed Kelly are Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller and state Sen. Robert Peters.
The 7th District primary for Davis’ seat has drawn 13 Democratic candidates, including the congressman’s chosen successor, state Rep. La Shawn Ford; Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin; labor organizer Anthony Driver Jr.; real estate mogul Jason Friedman; and progressive activist Kina Collins.
Former Rep. Melissa Bean is also seeking a comeback as one of eight Democrats seeking to succeed Krishnamoorthi in the 8th District. Tech entrepreneur Junaid Ahmed is backed by several prominent progressives, while Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, businessman Neil Khot and Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Benkole are among the other candidates.
And in the 9th District, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Laura Fine and progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh have earned the most attention in the 15-person Democratic race for Schakowsky’s seat.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been a focal point in several of these races since the group took center stage in a New Jersey special election last month. United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s political arm, has spent $3.2 million to support Conyears-Ervin in the 2nd District, while groups reportedly linked to AIPAC have supported Miller, Bean and Fine. But other candidates, including Peters, Driver, Ahmed and Biss, have slammed AIPAC and sought to make the group’s involvement an issue in their races.
Several other groups have also weighed in, including Think Big, which is affiliated with the pro-AI group Leading the Future and has spent $1.4 million supporting Jackson and $1.1 million supporting Bean. Fairshake, the crypto-backed PAC, spent $817,000 opposing Peters in the 2nd District and $2.4 million opposing Ford in the 7th.
Biss has benefited from $547,000 in spending by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC and from Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All leadership PAC.
The race for a fifth open Chicagoland seat, retiring Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García’s 4th District, doesn’t have a primary but could be interesting in the fall. Two independent candidates are challenging García’s chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation), the sole Democrat on the ballot who filed as her boss dropped out of the race just before the filing deadline.
Photo finish
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The post At the Races: Big primaries in the Prairie State appeared first on Roll Call.
