Early voting for Illinois’ primaries has begun! From Attorney General to Cook County Treasurer, 19 races will be decided by this time next week.
Lucky for us, Lynn Sweet is back with Jen to give us an outline of [Illinois’ most influential races. Notably, Sweet points out the massive amounts of money being funneled into candidates’ campaign ads —mainly from Super PACs and crypto companies.
If you’re a resident of Illinois, make sure you’re registered to vote! You can do so by clicking here.
Lynn Sweet is the Chicago Sun-Times’ special correspondent for Chicago Public Media, and was previously their Washington Bureau Chief. She appears frequently on CNN & other outlets as an analyst and previously worked at the late PoliticsDaily.
The following transcript has been edited for formatting purposes.
Jen Rubin:
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, Editor-in-Chief of the Contrarian. I am so glad we have Lynn Sweet, direct from Chicago. To talk to us about the upcoming primary, there are a ton of races, a ton of open seats in Illinois, so it’s going to be very exciting. Lynn, welcome, good to see you.
Lynn Sweet
Good to see you again, and hello, everybody.
Jen Rubin
The Senate race is, a multi-candidate field on the Democratic primary side. Early voting has begun. Who’s leading, if you can tell, who’s doing well? And more importantly, what are these ads that are blanketing the state telling you?
Lynn Sweet
Well, the ads really, for all the races are relentless because of the money from the campaigns and from outside interests. But in the Senate race, the three frontrunners are Raja Krishnamoorthi, who is the incumbent House member; Juliana Stratton, who is the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, and Congressman Robin Kelly, who’s also a member of Congress.
So, Jen, right now, latest polls show Raja ahead, but Stratton may be pulling ahead. It may be coming down to a two-person race, but there are so many ways that I could be wrong here that maybe Robin could pull ahead, because the advertising, the negative advertising between Stratton and Raja may actually turn some people off. And you don’t need a majority. This is a nomination by a plurality.
Jen Rubin
She seems to be hitting him, not on any votes he has taken, but on money he took, and then gave back, or gave away, rather.
Lynn Sweet
So here’s the point. Raja Krishnamoorthi has, nationally one of the biggest campaign war chests of anyone in Congress. That’s all he’s done. past years, he’s raised money, and his colleagues, especially in Illinois, think he could have been more generous in helping other candidates. He did help the DCCC, but that was kind of a play to also help himself in terms of committees. But, in terms of the advertising, what you see is the theme that is out there and the negative stuff, each are accusing each other, especially, you know, in Stratton and Raja, between the IEs and what they’re doing, is, you would think, to hear the commercials, that, each of them are either lap dogs for Trump, or are, MAGA pure and through.
Of course, there are some positive things that they’re all saying about themselves, but there’s no issue that breaks through. Robin Kelly is not under attack right now, and she’s, touting her support. She’s trying to rein herself into Obama, showing clips in her video, in her commercials. her with Obama. One time Obama gave her a shout-out at an event, and you know, you show it, and in the house is Robin Kelly, and then a picture, Robin saying, he said it! So, I get where she’s going on that. So… I just think this anti… these ads are relentless, the buys are huge, the outside money is enormous, and the outside money in the Senate race, a lot of it is from AI interests and from crypto interests. When we get about the House races, then it’s more AIPAC-related,
Jen Rubin
We’re gonna get to that. Let me just, go back to one question about Raja. He took money from a company that is engaged in the building or operation of, things people don’t like. So tell us about that, and why that has stuck, even though he turned around and gave that money away to pro-immigrant groups.
Lynn Sweet
It does. In terms of politics, it doesn’t stop the initial act. It just hopefully doesn’t make things worse when you give away, because then you get the ad. Not only did he take it, he refuses to give it away. So at least, you know, maybe he stopped a little bit of the bleeding, but the, you know, the ads are very tough.
Jen Rubin
The money came from which company? I can’t remember.
Lynn Sweet
It might have been Palantir, I can’t remember which one.
Jen Rubin
Palantir, I think it was, who is engaged in building these warehouses and…
Lynn Sweet
It wasn’t like he took it this spring, or when the surge happened in Chicago, and he took it knowingly. But I am not here to defend any of these people or any of these campaign contributions, because when you do massive fundraising. you also have the risk that even years later, something you do jumps up to bite you. Jen, we know the real world. You could, take a, nonprofits take gifts that they think are pure, and then they get in trouble. Example? Les Wexner! Okay. And I think our audience know what I’m talking about, not to eat up our time. Yeah. You know, oh my god, you know, back in the day, and now, I don’t think anyone would… I think a nonprofit would think a bit before accepting another…
Jen Rubin
Absolutely, absolutely. He, of course, has been linked to Epstein. Let’s go to the House races, because you have so many open seats. We’ve talked about this a bit. Because they are Chicago-based, heavily Democratic, once you get in one of these seats, you probably have a very long time job. So, they’re very highly prized, and the races are crowded. So, take us around the horn, if you will. in whatever order you like. Who’s in which race, what is the main issue, and who’s at the top of the heap.
Lynn Sweet
There are 5 open seats. The easiest one is the 4th Congressional District. The incumbent is Chewy Garcia. He did a switcheroo, and at the last minute, he announced he wasn’t going to run, and lo and behold, the nominating petitions for his chief of staff disappeared, and she filed, and no one else could, so she’ll be nominated. There are some other Democrats who are running as independents, so they are going to try to qualify to get on the ballot in November. Odds on favorite. That, that, chewy will successfully pass the baton. Now, there are two members who are retiring, Danny Davis in the 7th District, that is the west and west suburban part of the city and suburbs, and Jan Schakowsky in the 9th, that’s the north part of the city and the north suburbs. Both long-time members of Congress, both, both, blue-chip progressives.
So, in both races, you have, I think, about a dozen people running, and again, I keep saying plurality, so you don’t need a lot to win. In the, 7th Congressional District race now, there’s some independent money coming in, from some of the crypto interests, and I, I have to check, there may be AI, but there is money against coming in, a massive amount coming in, against Danny Davis’s hand-picked successor, who is a state legislator, excuse me, state rep, La Shawn Ford.
So, one of his problems in his resume is that he did have some criminal issues in the past, and that’s coming up in the, you know, in the negative advertising. It’s just not clear who the frontrunner may be. The city, treasurer, Melissa Conyears-Ervin is running, she has run before, and there’s negative ads going out against her, and I can’t remember what, except it’s not… everybody, any negative ad that you see right now. Please, everybody, take it with a lot of salt, not a few grains.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely, absolutely. Now, the 9th is really interesting. The 9th is a fascinating race.
Lynn Sweet
Okay, that’s the 9th, because within our community in Chicago, it is the one with the heaviest Jewish population, and there it also is a heavy Palestinian population. The seat has been held first, you know, here’s how rare it turns over. I’ve been covering the Illinois delegation since 1993. Only two people have held that seat. Like, this is 2026. Okay. Sid Yates, who I don’t know if anyone except Jen Rubin remembers.
Jen Rubin
I do, yeah, yeah.
Lynn Sweet
And then Jan Schakowsky. So, There are a lot of very people of various resumes. Right now, the frontrunner is Dan Biss, who is the, mayor of Evanston, Laura Fine, who is the, a state… member of the state legislature. Phil Andrew, who is a former FBI agent, a major anti-gun violence advocate. And then there’s Kat Abughazaleh who moved into the district to run, has gotten a lot of support because she’s social media savvy, and Jan Schakowsky ended up endorsing this a few weeks ago. I think the thought was that if Kat was surging. You wanted to head her off. Now, this is a race where APAC has come in very heavily for Fine. Fine and Biss are both Jewish. In some ways, this is a clearer example of how the issue of U.S. policy to Israel is playing out in a Democratic primary. APAC is… has four candidates that it’s backing, you know, in these four open seats, all women, but in the ninth, it’s fine. So the issue is an, No one is anti-Israel. between Dan Biss and Fine, That’s not the issue, and I hope when we talk about it, there’s a lot of ways to be pro-Israel. It’s not the AIPAC’s way.
The issue is do you support the United States giving Israel assistance with strings attached and oversight? or continue the status quo and just give Israel the money. Now, why is this happening? Because of the way Netanyahu has conducted the war in Gaza that was justified correctly because of the Hamas attack on Israel October 7th, 2023, and the holding of hostages. And taking years to get them back, dead or alive. So, this is, so… AIPAC, In some part… is now being seen in the district as a kind of a dirty word. Well, he’s this and that, and it’s unfortunate, that this has happened, and I have a sense that AIPAC has to be careful here, because.
You could overplay ahead. I know in New Jersey, I think a candidate ended up winning the primary. And they’re playing in four races here, and they’re playing with fire.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. And we interviewed, actually, Bis, and he is Jewish, he’s pro-Israel, and yet APAC has come out against him, because he won’t take this very emphatic line that I will fund Israel no matter what. Now, does the war in Iran, work against the APAC candidate? Because people don’t like the war, and it seems to be saying, well, you have to be in favor of the war, because Bibi is in favor of the war, Trump is in favor of the war. How does that play into this?
Lynn Sweet
There’s no ads yet. I mean, I don’t know… this is just my guess, because I don’t know… we’re so close to the election here. My guess is… Unless you have really good polling or intelligence, And if, you know, maybe if they really… these campaigns, or the, affiliated… the unaffiliated…
Jen Rubin
It’s not the affiliated groups, yes.
Lynn Sweet
I think you really have to calculate Do you really want an ad, when not quite knowing how things are going to play out with American debts, that, support Jane Doe, because she supports the war in Iran. I think that’s risky. Then you’re getting into higher gas prices, more American debts. Oil prices, inflation…
So I would leave it alone. If it were me, I’d leave it alone, and I haven’t seen any evidence yet.
Jen Rubin
Right, right. There is one more race, that is, going on. Tell us about that one.
Lynn Sweet
Okay, so I did, we have in the suburbs, then, the two people who are leaving to run for Senate. The far south side, Robin Kelly’s 2nd Congressional District, and then in the northwest suburbs, Rajakrishna Morty’s district. So, in the second district, in the last matter of weeks and days, there’s just a surge of outside money. Now. One of the frontrunners is a woman named, Donna Miller, who, was, what, a press chairman or something of, something like that, of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. But, this is also the comeback bid of Congressman, former congressman, convicted felon. Jesse Jackson Jr.
So, as everyone knows, Chicago, had, after, many days of send-offs, and Friday’s funeral, and the Saturday final wrap-up, Reverend Jesse Jackson. The civil rights icon, two-time presidential candidate, was buried in a Southside cemetery. And throughout this, his son. with the rest of the family, has been active. I don’t know how the funeral is going to… or how the death is going to help, and I think my gut is his brother was elected to Congress in a big field. My analysis is if his name was Jonathan… Jonathan Green, it wouldn’t have happened. So, he was able to win easily. Jesse won multiple times easily. Because Jesse gave up his seat. for mental health reasons, and eventually his criminal corruption charges. That’s why Robin Kelly got it, by the way.
So, one of the things that I’m waiting for is to see if any outside interest is really going to do negative ads against Jesse Jr. So far, so we have the big story today is that, an AI-enhanced ad. Former Congressman Bobby Rush, talking about Jesse Jr. Now, I listened to that ad, and yes, there’s a few stories there. It’s not just that. and Congressman Rush has throat cancer, so he’s difficult to understand, so you call it AI, frankly, it might as well just be a voiceover, because it doesn’t sound like him.
But, you listen to what he says. There’s no mention that give him a second chance, redeem him. It’s as if nothing had ever happened. This man took a guilty plea. Of looting his campaign funds. His wife pled guilty, she was then an alderman, and they just stole $750,000 for a lot of it, vacations, frivolous stuff. Now. It didn’t come up. At the memorial service, Reverend Aaron Sharpton said, you know, send Jesse back to Congress. And, you know, Jesse Jackson Jr, Is still getting disability payments. Based on something that happened during his tenure as a member of Congress. It’s over $100,000 a year. He told a reporter from Politico that If you select it, he’ll give up the disability payments. I think that’s kind of worth a discussion.
Jen Rubin
Yes, exactly. He’ll keep them if he doesn’t win, but he’ll give them up. So is he disabled, or is he not disabled?
Lynn Sweet
Well, this is the issue. If you… now that everybody saw him at the funeral, he’s speaking, he took it upon himself to, say, in the audience, let’s… let’s all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus stand up. I thought that was a little, you know. Okay. You know, Maxine Waters, who’s, like, an aunt to the Jackson children, she has known them since they were babies. She was there, she touted, Jesse, and… and… Everyone deserves a second chance. Even a third. But I think in assessing Where you get that second chance, it might be… And maybe in a different profession, doing something else.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely.
Lynn Sweet
Now, maybe as we talk about redemption, does it have to be a return? To the seat where something happened. And, maybe these ads that I hear are coming will address it, or maybe not, or maybe with the sympathy vote on the death of the Reverend, maybe You know, in this super big field, maybe it will be hard to break in.
I think there was some poll… it’s not like Jesse’s galloping, you know, to the… to the front, or he’s not running all this, so maybe something will break through.
Well, the last seat., this is, again, one where there is money from the AIPAC-related independent expenditures in support of Melissa Bean, who is a former member of Congress, much more of a centrist, she, touts in her ads her support for Obamacare, which she says… which she blames for costing her her seat. a few years ago, and it’s, it’s a big… if it happens, it’s a big comeback for her. What’s interesting in all these races is that, even including the Senate, there’s never an ad that you might expect, with one exception I’ll get to quickly, So-and-so voted the wrong way on the bill for air pollution, or voted the wrong way on the climate bill.
What Raja is getting beat up on, is there was a resolution in support of Israel that also had in it, language in supporting ICE.
Jen Rubin
Exactly. It’s like an attaboy for ICE in there.
Lynn Sweet
Right, so to see the ad, you wouldn’t know it. And he… I’ve heard him at some other debates and places explain it, but it’s hard in politics, and sometimes in life, because there is the saying, when you explain, you lose.
It’s always hard to cover congressional campaigns or state… and any campaign where there is a voting record from, you know, from a city council on up, because Bills often are not just a single subject.
And therefore, you could cherry-pick things in it that you don’t like. But since you and I live in the real world, we have perhaps… I don’t want to be your spokesman here, it would be hard To be an effective member of any legislative body. And only vote when something is ethically or morally, in your view, pure. You may be a no vote for your whole career then, unless it’s a post office naming.
You have to, you know, you take a stand, you look for the greater good in a piece of legislation, knowing, however, you’re vulnerable. That’s why, again, quickly for the people listening, a lot of times the party in power will, call a bill for a vote succeeding and the other body, just to force you to vote for something that you know will be used against you when you run again.
Jen Rubin
Exactly. So, I think just to wrap up here, what we’re seeing is a few trends we’ve seen nationwide. Huge amounts of money, huge amounts of outside money from crypto, AI, APAC, And the… what gets lost in this is any real difference or discussion of the merits of policy. These people are all progressive Democrats, so the amount of differentiation between them is next to nothing. And… maybe each one would be a different person, each one would have different preferences, but that’s not what’s driving the race. And I asked you just before you came on, how the Senate debate went last night, and you honestly said, it doesn’t make any difference, because it’s the ads, it’s the money that is driving this race.
Lynn Sweet
Right, and also the big thing that comes out in all the Democrat, ads either it’s a race to see who is more anti-Trump. Jen, I defy you to show me a Democrat who is pro-Trump.
So, I’m the fighter. And then, if you’re attacking someone, you try and make your opponent look through however you connect some dots as they’re MAGA-allied, or they’re pro-ICE. If you found a pro-Trump Democrat, Jen, you’ve got a good story there.
But here is, in a sense, my analytical warning to Democrats. Do this at your risk, because everybody who says they’re more anti-Trump, and they’re gonna fight harder than the next person. Especially if you’re already in office, like Raja, if you could have done it, why didn’t you do it? We would have seen it by now, more than what they have, more than just letting the DHS shutdown linger. So you could, you know, so Julianne is trying to say, I’m a fighter. We’re, yeah, they’re all fighters, but what end? See, what they don’t do then is the next thing. And I could make a dent because, you know, Raja introduced a packet of bills against Trump you know, reform this, reform that. Those bills are going nowhere. They’re… okay, that’s nice.
And they were filed, I suppose, to help him look like he was being proactive, but… it’s a Republican chamber. No one cares about these bills, there’s no hearing, very few co-sponsors. So, to what end? Voters, That’s what we’ve got. I don’t see anyone… everyone says they’ll stand up to Trump in Illinois. And some are, you know, certainly J.B. Pritzker is, but you have to figure out something that works. Sometimes some things do make a dent, you know. Gnome is out, Greg Balvino is out, but it’s usually… but in both of those cases, it’s because of things they did.
Jen Rubin
Exactly. Well this is the best of Chicago politics, the best of Illinois. It’s like a feast of politics for you, Lynn, I know, since you have covered, Chicago and Illinois more generally for decades. Gonna be fascinating next week. We’ll see how it comes out, and then, of course, everyone will read the tea leaves and extract whatever lessons they want to extract from them, but we’ll come back afterwards and and get your take on it. So, thanks so much, Lynn. Always great to hear from you. Always fun to hear about Chicago and Illinois more generally. Take care.
Lynn Sweet
Thank you, Jen.
