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Connecting the Cash
Over $22 Million Spent on Primary Advertising
From October 2015 to Primary Election day on March 15th, 2016, Illinois political committees statewide reported
over $22 Million in spending on television, radio, and print advertising. This figure also includes yard signs, political mailers, billboards, and printed advertisements, and reflects self-reported and self-categorized expenditures from committees' quarterly reports. Of that total number, about
$11 Million was reported as television advertising, and only
$123,000 was reported as online or web advertising. It was clear from the reported expenditures that print ads and mailers still remain one of the most prominent political tools in Illinois.
Super PAC spending was reported throughout the election, thanks to a law ICPR helped pass last year requiring a year-round timely reporting requirement for such spending. However, when a committee spends money to advertise for their own namesake candidate,
they are only required to disclose that information on their quarterly reports. After quarterlies were released on April 15th, we tallied up some of the biggest ad spenders this Primary season.
Juliana Stratton reported $1.85 Million in ad spending, or 92% of her total campaign expenditures. She was opposed heavily, with ads purchased by Illinois GO to the tune of over $2.5 Million, plus
$553,000 in ad spending from Dunkin's campaign committee. Stratton won the race, even with a million dollar difference in ad spending between her and Dunkin.
Illinois Senator Sam McCann, in another hotly contested race against Bryce Benton,
reported $461,000 on ads, with over $3 million spent against him and another $25,000 out of Benton's campaign committee.
The
Illinois Republican Party also reported $846,000 in ad spending, with a mix of print and television.
House Speaker Michael Madigan was not the top spender, as his committee only
dished out $380,000 in reported ad spending, coming in at only 37% of his total spending.
The Democratic Majority, a committee to elect Illinois House Democrats, spent $368,000 on print ads, although it is unclear who all of those funds were supporting. Madigan defeated challenger
Gonzales, who spent $91,000 of his own money and received another $767,000 in Super PAC support from Illinois United for Change.
Senate Candidates
| Name |
District |
Party |
Internet |
Print |
TV |
Radio |
Total on Ads |
Total Expenditures |
|
McCann, William "Sam"
|
50th |
R |
$409 |
$62,438 |
$397,220 |
$1,000 |
$461,067
|
$519,655
|
| Hastings, Michael |
19th |
D |
$2,830 |
$129,506 |
$5,881 |
$0 |
$138,216 |
$225,201 |
| Urlacher, Casey |
26th |
R |
$10,951 |
$139,518 |
$3,000 |
$0 |
$153,469 |
$211,437 |
| Van Pelt, Patricia |
5th |
D |
$0 |
$116,898 |
$0 |
$7,295 |
$124,193 |
$287,614 |
| Omar, Aquino |
2nd |
D |
$0 |
$74,427 |
$5,000 |
$480 |
$79,907 |
$137,655 |
| Alfaro, angelica |
2nd |
D |
$79 |
$67,207 |
$0 |
$0 |
$67,285 |
$207,786 |
| McConchie, Dan |
26th |
D |
$559 |
$62,441 |
$0 |
$0 |
$63,000 |
$112,656 |
House Candidates
| Name |
District |
Party |
Internet
|
Print |
TV |
Radio |
Total on Ads
|
Total Exp. |
|
Stratton, Juliana
|
5th |
D |
$0 |
$304,112 |
$1,551,050 |
$0 |
$1,855,162
|
$1,998,654
|
|
Dunkin, Ken
|
5th |
D |
$5,653 |
$100,369 |
$402,565 |
$44,770 |
$553,357 |
$1,220,198 |
| Madigan, Michael J. |
22nd |
D |
$0 |
$177,550 |
$203,423 |
$0 |
$380,973 |
$1,021,640 |
|
Scobbie, Dennis
|
95th |
R |
$0 |
$37,843 |
$216,590 |
$68,832 |
$323,265 |
$326,917 |
| Mitchell, Christian |
26th |
D |
$8,630 |
$192,531 |
$119,840 |
$0 |
$321,002 |
$547,564 |
| Halpin, Michael |
72nd |
D |
$467 |
$153,072 |
$51,600 |
$0 |
$205,139 |
$284,475 |
| Gonzales, Jason |
22nd |
D |
$0 |
$91,146 |
$0 |
$0 |
$91,146 |
$284,456 |
For more information, contact ICPR Executive Director Sarah Brune at 312-436-1274 or sarah@ilcampaign.org. ICPR Data Analyst Brendan O'Rorke also contributed to this research. Data is sourced from the Illinois State Board of Elections and Illinois Sunshine.
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