Campaign Finance Analysis - IL 9th District

The 9th District

The Illinois 9th US Congressional District is an open primary after Rep Jan Shakowsky retired earlier this year. See this article for a more detailed analysis of the race. This article will focus on the campaign finances of the four leading candidates.

Fundraising Overview

Candidate	Raised	Spent	Cash on Hand
Kat Abughazaleh	$904,576	$237,808	$666,768
Daniel Biss	$702,975	$57,501	$645,474
Laura Fine	$262,805	$25,579	$237,226
Bushra Amiwala	$198,993	$7,886	$191,046

You can browse more detailed FEC Records here.

Itemized vs. Unitemized Receipts

The Federal Election Commission requires candidates to track the source of all contributions. If any individual contributes $200 or more during an election cycle, the candidate must report additinoal details as an itemized receipt. In general, more un-itemized receipts means more smaller-dollar donations from a broader base of contributors.

Q1 vs. Q2 Total Fundraising

Comparing fundraising over the last two quarters shows that although Abughazaleh still has a lead in total raised, she was outraised by Biss and the momentum no longer is in her favor.

How they Spent It

Kat Abughazaleh

The Abughazaleh campaign has pledged to do things differently than most campaigns. They have stated that they intend for most of their campaigns energy to be spent on dual-purpose projects that help the community today as well as help the campaign win. Despite this, they have spent more than any other campaign on Consulting and Services:

Per a campaign email, they have several upcoming events, mostly cleaning up local parks. These are obviously worthwhile in a general 'do good' sort of way, but her donors and volunteers likely expect more. Another red flag is that contributions appear to be decreasing. Abughazaleh raised $378,596 in a single week between March 24th and March 31st , but only raised $525,946 in April, May and June combined .

Daniel Biss

The Biss campaign raised almost as much in 1 quarter as the Abughazaleh campaign did with a three-month head start. He raised $702,975 in Q2, compared to her $525,946. Additinoally, having spent much less money so far, Biss has almost as much cash on Hand as Abughazaleh. Biss has apparently been focused on gathering political support and has secured several key endorsements. Unlike Abughazaleh, who has raised mostly from small dollar donors, the Biss campaign has raised almost all of its money in contributions greater than $200.

It seems likely that Biss will eventually also try to raise small dollar donations as well. With the backing of many prominent local Democrats (and access to their donor lists), he will likely continue to raise large ammounts of money.

Laura Fine

The Fine campaign delivered a solid fundraising Q2, raising $262,805. Like Biss, she has also raised primarily from large donations of $200 or more. Unlike Biss, she has not gathered (or at least has not published) many endorsements, so it is unclear whether she will be able to continue to raise as much.

Fine has spent less than any of the other four major candidates and does not have any events listed on her website yet.

Bushra Amiwala

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Bushra Amiwala raised a very respectable $198,933 in Q2. Like Biss and Fine, she has also raised primarily from large donations of $200 or more. As a relative political newcomer, her ability to raise such a large amount means she is very disciplined, very well-liked in among her constituents, or (more likely) - both. She has been careful spending her money:

Bushra has am August 9 petition signing kickoff event scheduled and is currently looking for volunteers.

The Rest of the Field

Although the four candidates above seem to be the obvious front-runners, here are a few more candidates to keep on eye on:

• Bruce Leon - Loaned $610,000 to his own campaign from his personal funds. Although this does not demonstrate any community support, money like that can go a long way in a congressional primary.\
• Howard Rosenblum - Raised $49,946 and only spent $768 - very efficient.
• Miracle jenkins - Miracle raised $29,445 but also spent $27,184.
• Justin Ford - Justin raised $24,509 but spent most of that and has less than $1,000 cash on hand.

It is also worth keeping an eye on Hoan Huynh and Mike Simmons, both of whom have political experience and constituencies in the district. Neither of them filed quarterly reports for Q2, perhaps prefering to stay below the radar for now.