Associated Press reported that it took about $125 million to reshape Illinois’ congressional delegation as the state’s Democrats selected new nominees for open seats in this month’s primary contests. The spending, AP said, reflected a crowded and expensive cycle in a state typically known for entrenched “machine politics,” driven this time by a high number of retirements that opened up multiple seats at once.
AP said the pattern began with Sen. Richard Durbin’s announcement last year that he would not seek a sixth term. AP reported that Durbin’s decision set off a cascading effect as three other Chicago-area Democratic representatives also announced retirements, leaving more than one-quarter of the state’s U.S. House seats open for the first time in at least seven decades.
In AP’s account, that unusually large number of open seats pulled in large fields of candidates and—critically—large amounts of political money. AP reported that Democrats picked five new nominees for Congress in open seats favored to remain Democratic this fall, but the primary season that produced them was “messy” and “expensive,” with millions flowing from both campaigns and outside groups.
Outside groups spent about $70 million in the five competitive races, AP reported, while campaign spending across those contests totaled about $54 million. AP said the Senate primary alone drew more than $34 million in independent expenditures, and cited OpenSecrets’ data that only nine Senate general-election campaigns in 2024 saw more outside spending.
AP reported that the independent spending was spread across multiple organizations, including “10 PACs” that each reported at least $1 million in independent expenditures across the five competitive races. AP said two of those—Illinois Future PAC, which received at least $5 million from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and the cryptocurrency-backed Fairshake—each spent more than $10 million.
AP also said that crypto- and artificial intelligence-backed PACs spent heavily in four of the Illinois races it reviewed. AP reported that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an advocacy organization that lobbies for U.S. support for Israel, also spent millions.
In the Senate Democratic primary, AP reported that outside spending tilted strongly toward the eventual winner, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. AP said outside groups spent more than $16 million in support of Stratton, compared with about $11 million spent opposing her, while Stratton reported just shy of $2.8 million in campaign spending to the Federal Election Commission. AP reported that Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who was trailing Stratton by about 7 percentage points as of Wednesday morning with nearly all votes counted, spent nearly $24 million from his own campaign funds, while outside groups spent more than $4 million opposing his candidacy.
AP said the totals reflected independent expenditures reported in 24- and 48-hour filings to the FEC as of Tuesday night, while campaign spending figures reflected the latest FEC filings covering expenditures through Feb. 25. AP also reported that the 9th District contest—covering Chicago’s North Shore suburbs—was the only other race where outside spending topped $10 million.
AP reported that the 9th District race began with more than a dozen candidates but narrowed as three candidates attracted most of the outside attention: Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist; State Sen. Laura Fine; and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the eventual winner of the primary. AP said Abughazaleh “was the only one who faced outside spending entirely in opposition,” while Fine received more than $4.3 million in support from Elect Chicago Women, a new super PAC. AP reported that Biss received more than $500,000 each from 314 Action Fund and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.
AP reported that Elect Chicago Women also spent more than $1.4 million opposing Biss in the 9th District primary. In AP’s description, the three other open House races with large candidate fields saw between $8 million and $9 million in total spending.
AP reported that the 2nd District led that group, with the winner, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, boosted by more than $4.3 million from an outside group called Affordable Chicago Now, which AP said “has yet to disclose its donors.” AP said other groups that had not disclosed donors—including Elect Chicago Women and Chicago Progressive Partnership—kept the source of some of the money unclear, with AP noting that the identities of backers would become clearer as PAC filing deadlines pass later this month.
Additional reporting: AP said Leah Askarinam and Pablo Barria Urenda contributed to the analysis.