Illinois held a consequential primary election on Tuesday that resulted in the nomination of five new Democratic candidates for open congressional seats expected to remain under Democratic control in the general election. The contests drew unprecedented levels of spending, with outside groups contributing roughly $70 million and campaigns spending approximately $54 million across five competitive races for one Senate seat and multiple House positions.
The high volume of spending reflects an unusual political landscape in Illinois, a state traditionally defined by machine politics rather than wide-open contests. The retirement of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, announced the previous year, prompted two House members to seek his seat. His departure, combined with retirements by three other Chicago-area Democratic representatives, left more than one-quarter of the state’s U.S. House seats vacant for the first time in at least seven decades. This cascading effect created multiple competitive races that attracted numerous candidates and substantial financial investment.
The Senate primary alone generated more than $34 million in independent expenditures, a spending level that would rank among the highest in recent Senate general election campaigns. The expensive Chicago media market and multiple competitive races allowed donors and outside groups to deploy significant resources. Ten political action committees each reported at least $1 million in independent expenditures, with Illinois Future PAC and the cryptocurrency-backed Fairshake each spending more than $10 million. Cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-backed PACs were particularly active, alongside advocacy organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the Senate Democratic primary while benefiting from more than $16 million in outside support, compared to approximately $11 million spent in opposition. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who trailed Stratton by roughly 7 percentage points, reported spending nearly $24 million from his campaign, with outside groups spending more than $4 million against him. In House races, outside spending exceeded candidate spending in four of five contested primaries, an occurrence that occurs rarely in federal elections.
Final donor information for some major spending groups remains incomplete. Affordable Chicago Now, which spent more than $4.3 million supporting Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in the 2nd District race, has not yet disclosed its donors. Elect Chicago Women and Chicago Progressive Partnership similarly have not revealed their funding sources, with complete disclosure expected later in the month according to filing deadlines.
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