AIPAC is running a new digital attack ad in IL09 claiming Kat Abughazaleh is “to the right of Donald Trump," based on comments she made when she was 16 or 17 years old.

The "Chicago Progressive Partnership" 30s attack ad on @katmabu.bsky.social, which is limited to YouTube and has instructions to only air to 18-34yos, is out. In @thedailynu.bsky.social soon.

A new Super PAC, "Chicago Progressive Partnership," just jumped into #IL09, opposing Kat Abughazaleh. Filings show they’re using the same vendors as AIPAC.

Hey Cook County, let's all vote for Liz Nicholson for 2nd Dist Board of Review. Her opponent, incumbent Samantha Steele, was the chick who drove drunk, crashed into a parked car, argued with the cops, tried to use her office to get off, then attempted to flee scene. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samanth...

IL02 Dem primary super PAC spend (Per FEC as of Feb 27): AIPAC pro Miller: $2.33M Think Big (AI) pro Jackson: $1.12M Fairshake (crypto) anti Peters: $735K Progressive Promise pro Peters: $210K National Nurses pro Peters: $100K People Action pro Peters: $30k Total $4.52M

AIPAC spending is flooding #IL02: Affordable Chicago Now, widely reported as a dark money front for AIPAC is now at $2,325,841 boosting Donna Miller. Latest ad touts her Planned Parenthood leadership. Donors not yet disclosed.

Fairshake, the crypto PAC, entered the Illinois Senate Democratic Primary with airing commercials against Juliana Stratton. The ad says “Madigan’s team recruited Juliana Stratton,” framing her as a machine pick.

New Tulchin poll sent to me, funded by a state Comptroller candidate’s campaign but also polling the Illinois Senate Democratic primary: 🔵 Raja Krishnamoorthi 39% 🔵 Juliana Stratton 23% 🔵 Robin Kelly 8%

Alexi Giannoulias reports $9,078,100 fundraising haul, one year before Chicago mayor election. 💰 Top donors: Carpenters Union: $1M Operators Local 150: $1M IBEW Local 134: $1M LIUNA Laborers: $750K Michael Sacks: $500K Matthew Pritzker: $500K Eric Lefkofsky: $500K

Crypto super PAC Fairshake reported, per FEC filings, spending $82,055 on mailers attacking IL State Sen. Robert Peters in #IL02 Democratic primary. Peters is endorsed by Bernie Sanders and is a leading statehouse progressive who sponsored crypto regulation. Mailers troll him as a "corporate pawn."

I’m at the River North Residents Association IL07 debate. I live one block away. Melissa Conyears-Ervin is a no-show after a video from the last forum went viral, with Anabel Mendoza calling her a sellout and racking up millions of views on Instagram and TikTok.

Huge honor to be quoted in a national @politico.com story. AIPAC’s IL09 strategy could backfire like it did in NJ11. To me, branding Dan Biss on TV as a phony progressive seems more likely to move progressives to Justice Democrats backed Kat Abughazaleh than move them to Laura Fine.

New DLGA / PPP poll shows a tight IL Dem Senate primary: 🔵 Raja Krishnamoorthi 29% 🔵 Juliana Stratton 27% 🔵 Robin Kelly 13% Strattonmentum?!?

New Super PAC in town, big-time! New Democrat Majority, a group backing moderate, business-friendly Democrats, is dropping $1M+ on Chicago network TV to boost Melissa Bean in IL08, per FCC filings.

IL-09 POLL: In an @evanstonroundtable.bsky.social/PPP poll of likely Dem voters in IL-09, Daniel Biss remains the frontrunner at 24%, followed by Kat Abughazaleh at 17% and Laura Fine at 16%, and all others at 6% or less; undecideds stay high at 22%. Polled Feb. 20-21, MOE 4.4%. See below for more!

Fairshake, the crypto super PAC, is up big in IL07 with a Chicago area $1.5M buy attacking La Shawn Ford, hitting him hard over his 2012 indictment. The ad doesn't mention that prosecutors dropped the 17 felony counts and Ford pled to a misdemeanor for filing a false tax return.

New Dark Money Mystery Super PAC! "STRONGER ILLINOIS PAC" has spent $181K on mail supporting Jason Friedman in IL07 so far. The donors are undisclosed. PAC is registered to an address of an election attorney.

IL-07 Democratic Primary poll (Jan 7–10, 2026) 🟦 La Shawn Ford: 23% 🟦 Melissa Conyears-Ervin: 15% 🟦 Kina Collins: 12% 🟦 Jason Friedman: 10% Source: Upswing Research

JB Pritzker’s Illinois Future PAC is now out with an ad hitting Raja Krishnamoorthi for taking ICE contractor money for ten years while voting to fund and honor ICE.

Super PAC Spending so far in IL02: AIPAC (ACN) - Pro Donna Miller: $1,494,864 AI (Think Big) - Pro Jesse Jackson: $1,117,335 Progressive Promise - Pro Robert Peters: $210,000 National Nurses - Pro Robert Peters: $100,000 Crypto (Fairshake) - Anti Robert Peters: $41,027

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi is out with the Illinois senate Democratic primary’s first attack ad, hitting Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton for taking money from corporations and the DLGA Super PAC supporting her from taking money from ICE detention contractors.

AIPAC’s “Elect Chicago Women” PAC is now airing attack ads against Dan Biss, calling him a phony and claiming he’ll “say anything to get elected.”

Don't congratulate John Roberts or the Supreme Court. Congratulate Rick Woldenberg, the Chicago-area leader of Learning Resources, an educadtional toy company that had the courage to sue the president of the United States to save his family business. As well as everyone else who stepped up.

Crypto super PAC Fairshake is plunging into Illinois Democratic primaries, planning to spend at least $1 million each AGAINST state Rep. La Shawn Ford in IL07 and state Sen. Robert Peters in IL02 as they run for open U.S. House seats, according to POLITICO.

Taking time now to comb through filings for Fine + Kat, and I quickly noticed something across three major channels: Fine's campaign spent BIG on OTA TV ads thru 01/31, and then just... stopped cold. 02/01 happens to be when super PAC donos went dark until post-election. A coincidence, I'm sure.

AI industry-backed super PAC "THINK BIG" pours $2.2M into Chicago-area congressional primaries, per today's FEC filing: $1.1M for Jesse Jackson in IL02 $1.1M for Melissa Bean in IL08.

AIPAC Spending in Chicago area congressional races so far: $3.83 Million IL02 for Donna Miller: $816k IL07 for Melissa Conyears Ervin: $707k IL08 for Melissa Bean: $1.14M Il09 for Laura Fine: $1.17M

New Dan Biss internal IL09 poll: Daniel Biss — 31% Laura Fine — 18% Kat Abughazaleh — 18% Mike Simmons — 7% Phil Andrew — 7% Bushra Amiwala — 4% Hoan Huynh — 3%

Chicago-market ad buy: United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-aligned super PAC, is running spots backing Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the #IL07 Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Danny Davis. Video ⬇️

🚨 AIPAC is buying network Chicago TV in support of Melissa Conyears Ervin in IL07

IL07 2025 Q4 Cash on Hand: Jason Friedman $1.03M Thomas Fisher $455K LaShawn Ford $308K Kina Collins? Still waiting on her filing.

NEW: Elect Chicago Women, a super PAC which @shiakapos.bsky.social reported is AIPAC-backed, spent more than $570k to support IL-09 candidate Laura Fine, new FEC filing shows: - 400k for TV - 51k for mailers - 100k prob. for YouTube - 23k for ad production 🧵

Two days after their ads started blanketing TV, pop-up super PACs "Elect Chicago Women" and "Affordable Chicago Now!" filed their first 48-hr reports. ECW spent $574,476 for Laura Fine in IL-9, and $579,581 for Melissa Bean in IL-8. ACN spent $365,750 for Donna Miller in IL-2.

New polling numbers for the Illinois U.S. Senate race are out: Raja Krishnamoorthi: 34% Juliana Stratton: 23% Robin Kelly: 8% This poll, paid for by the DLGA, shows that the Strattonmentum is real as she climbs.

Over on the other site, @frankcalabrese.bsky.social reported that two brand-new super PACs, "Elect Chicago Women" and "Affordable Chicago Now!", have made big ad buys on ABC7. So I did the reasonable thing and got up stupid early to see them -- see below for all three that played in the last hour.

New internal GBAO poll from the Laura Fine campaign shows a tie at the top among likely IL09 Democratic primary voters: ​🔹 Laura Fine: 21% 🔹 Daniel Biss: 21% 🔹 Kat Abughazaleh: 14% 🔹 Mike Simmons: 7% 🔹 Bushra Amiwala: 5% 🔹 Phil Andrew: 4% 🔹 Hoan Huynh: 4%

Thanks @tahmanbradley.bsky.social for having me on @wgntv.com! 📺

FOX 32 Chicago’s Anita Blanton presses Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele on her DUI arrest. Steele denies being drunk, says Chicago Police Department bodycam was edited, and claims she’s a victim of “deep fakes."

Laura Fine narrowly leads IL-09 Democratic primary fundraising 💰 Laura Fine $1.44 Million cash on hand Daniel Biss $1.38M

Raja Krishnamoorthi dominates IL Senate Democratic primary fundraising: Raja Krishnamoorthi $15.25 Million cash on hand💰 Robin Kelly $1.60M Juliana Stratton $1.12M

Melissa Bean dominates IL-08 Democratic primary fundraising: Melissa Bean $1.009 Million💰 Junaid Ahmed $835K Neil Khot $573K

Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller dominates IL-02 Democratic primary fundraising: Donna Miller $978K cash on hand Robert Peters $263K Jesse Jackson $90K

2027 Chicago mayor money race (cash on hand after 2025 Q4): Alexi Giannoulias $6.35M Susana Mendoza $1.60M Brandon Johnson $829K Bill Conway $693K Joe Holberg $489K John Kelly Jr $416K

Cook County Board President money race (cash at end of 2025 Q4): Toni Preckwinkle: $614,201.01 Brendan Reilly: $1,270,565.06 Reilly leads by about $656K heading into the last 2 months. 💰📊

US Supreme Court rules 5-2-2 in Bost v. Illinois Bd. of Elections, Congressman Mike Bost (R-Illinois) has standing to challenge mail-in ballot votes arriving AFTER Election Day. Roberts opinion; Jackson/Sotomayor dissent.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis announces retirement effective Jan. 29, 2026. The Court appointed 1st District Appellate Justice Sanjay T. Tailor to fill her seat starting Jan. 30. Tailor will be the first Asian American on the IL Supreme Court.

Terrible week for Laura Fine >Widely reported that AIPAC was pressuring Bruce Leon to drop out to consolidate orthodox Jewish support for Laura Fine >Candidates condemn AIPAC >Jan Schawosky endorses Dan Biss >Bruce Leon now refuses to drop out

IL-02 Democratic primary: Jesse Jackson Jr leads by wide margin. Jackson Jr. 24% Miller 9% Brown 9% Preston 6% Peters 5% Poll conducted Dec. 1–8 by Global Strategy Group. Paid for by Donna Miller.

Entrepreneur Joe Holberg just loaned $400,000 to his Chicago mayoral campaign. Since it's before the 12-month window prior to the 2/23/2027 primary, it doesn't trigger the removal of contribution limits under state law.

Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄🎅🎁