Follow the money | Rich Miller

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon continues to amass campaign cash. His most recent quarterly report for his personal campaign committee showed Harmon had $13.4 million in the bank, up nearly $2 million from the previous quarter. His caucus committee ended with $2.6 million in the bank, about $800,000 more than the previous quarter. And his other two committees had a combined $1 million.

As I write this on October 18, Harmon’s personal committee has reported that he has raised $777,000 this month. No contributions were reported from this committee this month. Harmon’s caucus committee has raised just over $2 million, most of it from Gov. JB Pritzker, and has reported spending of about $1.4 million.

That means the Senate leader has about $18 million at his disposal heading into the home stretch. And since Harmon actually only has one race (Sen. Patrick Joyce of Essex) that isn’t particularly competitive, it looks like he’s putting most of his money in the bank for 2026. Sure, he’ll spend some of it this fall, but he’ll enter the next cycle with a massive cash advantage.

By comparison, Senate Republican Leader John Curran ended the third quarter with just over $1.9 million, up about $400,000 from the end of the previous quarter. He transferred about $700,000 of his donations to his caucus, the Senate Republican Victory Fund. This committee ended the quarter with approximately $163,000.

Curran’s personal committee reported raising $127,000 this month and his caucus raised $335,000, of which $313,000 came from Chairman Curran. The caucus committee made about $25,000 in contributions this month.

All of that gives leader Curran about $2.2 million to spend down the home stretch, meaning Harmon has a nearly 9-1 money advantage.

House Speaker Chris Welch spent about $6.9 million from his personal campaign fund in the third quarter, raised $4.5 million and ended up with $5 million in the bank. Democrats for the Illinois House of Representatives raised about $4.8 million, spent $3.8 million and ended up with $2.1 million in the bank. The Welch township committee raised $100,000 from various law firms, spent $42,000 and ended up with $251,000 in the bank.

As of this writing, Welch’s personal committee has reported $402,000 in donations and transferred $4 million to his caucus account. Separately, Democrats for the Illinois House of Representatives reported raising $2.1 million, mostly from Governor Pritzker, and donated $1.9 million.

That leaves Speaker Welch with about $7.8 million to spend in recent weeks.

House Republican leader Toni McCombie raised $950,000 during the quarter, spent $1.8 million and ended with $614,000 in the bank. The House Republican Organization raised $2.2 million (about McCombie’s $1.7 million), spent $2.2 million, and ended up with just $91,000 in the bank.

So far this month, McCombie’s personal committee has raised $256,000 and donated $450,000, all to HRO. Including that money, the House Republican Organization has raised $857,000 and donated $606,000 so far in October.

That leaves McCombie with just $762,000 for the remaining three weeks. Welch has a cash advantage of 10:1.

Meanwhile, all four state lawmakers are currently not bound by state campaign donation limits on their personal committees, having donated or borrowed more than $100,000 in those funds. As you might expect, Democratic leaders are doing far better than Republicans.

Senate President Harmon broke the caps in January 2023 with a $168,000 contribution to his personal fund. Since then, his campaign account has raised $8.8 million in donations, above the standard $68,500 limit for political action committees.

House Speaker Welch lifted his contribution caps in late March 2023 with a $100,001 loan to his fund, which was repaid a few weeks later. Welch has since reported raising around $6.9 million in donations above the standard limit.

Senate Republican leader Curran blew the cap on Aug. 12 with a $100,001 loan, a debt he was still carrying in his last report. Curran has only raised $342,000 in donations above the standard limit.

McCombie, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, defaulted on a $100,001 loan at the end of March this year, which her campaign candidate paid her back a few days later. She has since reported raising $650,000 over the standard cap.

So Democratic leaders have used the state’s cap-avoidance law to net raise a total of $15.6 million, while Republican leaders have only raised a net $792,000 (once Curran’s loan is eventually repaid). That’s a 20-1 margin for Democrats.

This is all ridiculously wrong.