The Really Important Races.
Unless you live in a cave with wolves, it is impossible not to know about the Presidential Campaign, this blog is about the races in Illinois that will affect people the most. I already blogged about determining who Sanders and Clinton will really serve and you can find that here. The combined ballot is 61 pages long (You can find it here in .pdf), so I have targeted races that will impact the most number of people. I will confess, I am only looking at Democratic races. I have come to believe that the Republican agenda is so debilitating to most people that I felt no compunction to include them. I have voted Republican in the past (Reagan and George H.W. Bush to be specific), but in the last 25 years have come to believe they are detrimental to most U.S, Citizens. So they are not included in this assessment. I have also come to know that candidates really serve who funds their campaigns, so that is the information I am presenting here. Match your priorities to their top funders:
U.S Senator
- Andrea Zopp
- The Vast majority of her funding is from individuals through ActBlue a PAC that provides candidates with donations commensurate with their political agendas:
- CEO of Chicago Urban League which is heavily involved in workforce development (job creation and small business promotion)
- The Vast majority of her funding is from individuals through ActBlue a PAC that provides candidates with donations commensurate with their political agendas:
- Tammy Duckworth
- Largest Contributor is Emily's List (Pro Choice Advocacy)
- Three medical injury recovery law firms
- An insurance risk assessment group. (Claims/coverage denial data)
- Napolean Harris
- His grandfather
- Two unions
- Two education oriented organization
U.S Representatives
Note: I am only listing those in districts where there is more than one candidate. If not listed, just vote Democrat
District 1
- Bobby Rush
- Telecommunications companies
- Money raise by Congressman Hoyer through AmeriPAC
- O. Patrick Brutus
- Doesn't disclose details
- Howard B. Bookins, Jr.
- Individual contributions
- Small business owners
- Personal injury lawyers
- Individual contributions
- Marcus Lewis
- Individual donations though GoFundMe and his website (No details disclosed)
- Robin Kelly
- Unions
- Some manufacturing
- Dorian C.L. Myrickes
- Individual donations though GoFundMe and his website (No details disclosed)
- Charles Rayburn
- Shows $0 on all sources
- Luis V. Gutierrez
- Hispanic and Mexican health and political interest organizations
- Financial and records management firms
- Javier Salas
- No details disclosed: Only raised $5,000
- Danny K. Davis
- Teacher Federation
- Corporate healthcare and insurance companies
- Realtors
- Wine manufacturers
- Thomas Day
- Undisclosed individual contributions
Delagates!!!!!
This may be the most important aspect to nominating a Presidential candidate:
This link is to the candidate and DELEGATE list for the Illinois primary. The list of Delegates and whom they are pledged for starts on page 3 and is broken down by district. Since the pledges may or may not appear on the ballot, it would be wise to look at this list and see who is pledged to your candidate. If you need to find what district you live in, click here
This link is to the candidate and DELEGATE list for the Illinois primary. The list of Delegates and whom they are pledged for starts on page 3 and is broken down by district. Since the pledges may or may not appear on the ballot, it would be wise to look at this list and see who is pledged to your candidate. If you need to find what district you live in, click here
State's Attorney
The importance of this candidate has increased dramatically with Rauner not signing a budget despite orders from Federal judges, not to mention the alleged corruption in the Chicago Police Department
- Kim Foxx
- About half of her funds come from a philanthropist who owns a network of alternative news source
- A quarter comes from Preckwinkle for President
- Two SEIU PACs
- Anita Alvarez
- Herself and her husband account for close to half
- Personal injury lawyer
- Several labor oriented PACs
- Donna More
- Herself, family and friends make up the largest amount of donations
State Senators
Given the way that Rauner has hijacked the state with his refusal to sign a budget, ensuring that there is a strong Democratic control of the state legislation. Below are only the candidates where ther is more than one Democratic Candidate. In all other districts, just be sure to vote for the Democratic Candidate
District 2
- Angelica Alfaro
- Stand for Children, an education advocacy group comprises over half of her total campaign fund
- The rest of her funding comes from individuals
- Omar Aquino
- Unions and Teacher's Federations
District 5
- Patricia Van Pelt
- More than three fifths of her campaign funds comes from her own assets, according to her disclosures
- A large number of individuals contributed to her campaign with $1,000 or less (most aroun $500)
- Robert "Bob" Fioretti
- He is his own largest contributor
- His next two largest contributors are a union (SEIU) and an armored vehicle company
- The bulk of his funding is medium sized businesses and legal services, mostly serving business litigationns
State Representatives
Frankly there are so many state representatives that it would take me until the primary to track down all of their donors. Plus so few people in many of those districts read my blog. To find out to whom a particular State Legislator is going to serve:
- Click here to find your district
- Click here and search through this list to see who is running (if you don't already know)
- Click here and enter a candidate's name
- If you don't recognize what a particular donor or donor group represents you will have to Google them.