Illinois held competitive primary elections that resulted in the selection of five new Democratic nominees for open U.S. House seats. The contests were marked by exceptionally high spending levels, with outside groups and candidates combining to spend around $125 million across five competitive races for Senate and House positions.
The unusual nature of this primary season stemmed from an atypical number of retirements in the state. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced he would not pursue a sixth term, prompting two House members to mount campaigns for his seat. Durbin’s departure, combined with retirements by three other Chicago-area Democratic representatives, created an environment where more than one-quarter of the state’s congressional seats were open simultaneously — a situation not seen in at least seven decades.
Independent expenditures totaled approximately $70 million, while direct campaign spending reached $54 million. The Senate primary alone generated more than $34 million in outside spending, a figure that exceeded the outside spending in all but nine Senate general election campaigns from 2024, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets organization. Illinois’ expensive Chicago media market facilitated rapid spending of these sums. Ten political action committees each reported at least $1 million in independent expenditures, with two groups — Illinois Future PAC, which received at least $5 million from Gov. JB Pritzker, and the cryptocurrency-backed Fairshake — spending more than $10 million each.
In four of the five contested House races, outside groups spent more money collectively than all candidates combined, a pattern that contrasts sharply with typical federal election spending dynamics. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the Senate Democratic primary while benefiting from more than $16 million in outside support. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who trailed by approximately 7 percentage points, spent nearly $24 million from his own campaign resources. In Illinois’ 9th District, which covers Chicago’s North Shore suburbs, the primary involved more than a dozen initial candidates, with outside spending exceeding $10 million. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss prevailed in that race after receiving support from multiple outside groups.
The source of some of the largest expenditures remains unclear pending final disclosure deadlines, as several groups including Affordable Chicago Now, Elect Chicago Women, and Chicago Progressive Partnership have not yet revealed their donors.
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