News · Press Release

Democratic Congressional Challengers Out-Raise Incumbent Opponents Across Illinois

Casten, Kelly, Londrigan & Underwood All Nearly Doubled Opponents Fundraising in Q3

In yet another clear sign of Democratic momentum, FEC filing reports show that all four Illinois Democratic congressional challengers in DCCC-targeted districts raised significantly more money than their incumbent opponents in the third financial quarter. These Democrats head into the final stretch with the necessary resources to deliver their message. In all but one district, Democratic challengers out-raised their Republican opponents by a 2-1 margin, and the only exception, Sean Casten, still out-raised incumbent Rep. Peter Roskam by more than $1 million.

“Democratic candidates across Illinois are benefitting from widespread grassroots support and a wave of high energy and voter enthusiasm. They have eliminated the cash advantages incumbents usually have and will head into the final stretch with the resources to deliver their powerful messages and respond to the nasty, misleading attacks from their Republican opponents and the special interest groups that support them,” said DCCC spokesperson Sean Savett.

IL-06:

IL-12:

  • Brendan Kelly raised more than $1.1 million, twice as much as Mike Bost, who raised only $552k. Kelly’s Q3 total is the most amount of money EVER raised by a candidate for Congress in IL-12, and he has now outraised the incumbent Bost in all five quarters he has been in the race. Kelly is also safely within the margin of error in polling, trailing Bost by 1 point in three straight polls.

IL-13:

  • Betsy Dirksen Londrigan raised nearly $1.7 million in Q3 from over 10,000 individual contributions. That’s roughly $1 million more than Rodney Davis, who raised only $700k, and has now had his cash on hand advantage virtually erased. Recent polling shows Londrigan trails by just 1 point, making it one of the closest races in the country.

IL-14:

  • Lauren Underwood raised more than $2 million, more than 4 times Randy Hultgren’s total of $455k. This is the third consecutive filing period Underwood has out-raised her Republican incumbent opponent, and she now has an approximately $600k cash on hand advantage heading into the final stretch.




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