When was the last time a major political figure was excommunicated?

Two celebrity Chicago mayoral contributions reported today: $5,000 from hall of fame quarterback John Elway to John Kelly $10,000 from trader and media personality Jon Najarian to Mike Quigley

2027 Chicago mayor money race, 2026 Q1 cash on hand: Alexi Giannoulias: $18.3M Susana Mendoza: $1.63M Brandon Johnson: $813K

Cook County Commissioner Samantha Steele commits another crime and LIES on her quarterly report and says she spent zero dollars! She had massive campaign signs and sent a district wide mailer.

The biggest story in the world right now is that the president of the United States is a demented old man who takes pleasure in torturing and killing people and is committing crimes with impunity. And yet most legacy media outlets are too cowardly to tell it like it is.

Saturday night is the perfect time to note that I finally published the historical Chicago zoning data I put together a few years ago danielkayhertz.com/zoning

THE FIGHTING ILLINI ARE HEADING TO THE FINAL FOUR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 21 YEARS! This team is so fun to watch. The defense has improved all season, Andrej Stojaković is a big reason why, and Wagler and Mirković have been awesome.

Toni Preckwinkle currently has about 69% of the vote against Brendan Reilly. That is significantly better than her 61% against perennial candidate Bob Fioretti in 2018. I thought Toni would win, but this was a huge blow out.

Finally, we have proof that "Elect Chicago Women" PAC, is funded by AIPAC. Elect Chicago Women took $4,011,200 from United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC. "ECW" spent at around $9 million in IL09 and IL08.

Is Samantha Steele the first person to be a one-term elected official in both Indiana and Illinois? She was assessor of Tippecanoe County, Ind., for a single term before moving to Illinois, getting elected and losing her reelection bid four years later

Juliana Stratton steamrolled Chicago on her way to a Senate win, carrying 44 of 50 wards. Raja Krishnamoorthi won only 6, mostly on the city’s more conservative outer edges, plus one downtown ward.

Robin Kelly's best precincts outside of her congressional district appear to be in the very liberal Logan Square area, which I attribute to her "Girl I Guess" endorsement and "genocide" stance on Gaza. She hit 40% in some precincts there.

Biggest upset of the night in Chicago: Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer lost decisively to upstart challenger Drake Warren. Gainer was once rumored as a candidate for Chicago mayor and Cook County Board president.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele loses to challenger Liz Nicholson

Donna Miller wins IL02 in a blowout

La Shawn Ford wins IL07, defeating Melissa Conyears-Ervin

🚨 Stratton wins the US Senate election, defeating Raja Krishnamoorthi

Daniel Biss wins IL09, beating Kat Abughazaleh

Melissa Beans wins IL08

Tune into WGN @wgntv.com at 6:30pm tonight for my election night preview with @tahmanbradley.bsky.social and @lourdesduarte.bsky.social! 📺

M3 Strategies **IL09 only** poll of voters who already voted by mail or early in person finds Stratton leading the Democratic Senate primary in IL09, which is much more progressive compared to the rest of the State. Juliana Stratton 46% Raja Krishnamoorthi 28% Robin Kelly 20%

IL09 might be the first "bluesky" election

New IL09 poll from M3 Strategies, among voters who already cast ballots by mail or early in person: Kat Abughazaleh 29.5% Daniel Biss 26.2% Laura Fine 19.7% Phil Andrew 7.9% Mike Simmons 6.6% Bushra Amiwala 5.1% Crosstabs next thread

M3 Strategies did a text poll of 550 verified IL09 voters who already voted early or by mail... I will tweet the results at 2pm, stay tuned!

The best Election Day tradition in Chicago is watching the candidates make their stop at Manny’s Deli!

Healthcare for Action PAC, which supports Raja Krishnamoorthi, released a new Tulchin Research poll of Illinois Democratic primary early voters showing Raja leading: 🔵 Raja Krishnamoorthi 44% 🔵 Juliana Stratton 33% 🔵 Robin Kelly 16%

"Chicago Progressive Partnership," the AIPAC linked dark money PAC, is running a pro Bushra Amiwala spot in IL09. The PAC just reported $105K behind the buy. In IL09, the same network is boosting Bushra and Laura Fine while going negative on Kat Abughazaleh and Daniel Biss.

New independent poll for Cook County Board President! M3 Strategies poll has Preckwinkle up big: 🔵 Toni Preckwinkle 55% 🔵 Brendan Reilly 35%

I just voted! 🇺🇸 If you live in Cook County, I highly recommend you use Injustice Watch @injusticewatch.org as a voting guide for judges. Voting for qualified judges is important!

La Shawn Ford’s campaign launched a rebuttal ad against Fairshake, the crypto super PAC that has spent $2.5 million against him in #IL07. The ad points to TV and print coverage to show that Fairshake’s attacks omit a key fact: the charges against Ford were dropped.

NEW: SEIU’s PAC is up with a new anti-Melissa Conyears-Ervin ad boosting Anthony Driver in #IL07. The spot ties Conyears-Ervin to AIPAC-linked cash and her ethics baggage, including the $60K fine and whistleblower fallout. United We Can has now spent about $559K backing Driver.

Great being on Chicago Report with Paris Schutz for an election preview. Thanks to Pat Brady and Rick Pearson for a great discussion. Watch tonight at 10pm on FOX 32 Chicago.

A new FM3 poll paid for by American Future, a DraftKings backed PAC, shows Juliana Stratton leading the Illinois Democratic Senate primary: 🔵 Juliana Stratton 38% 🔵 Raja Krishnamoorthi at 33% 🔵 Robin Kelly 18%

Thank you @shiakapos.bsky.social for featuring my research in POLITICO Illinois Playbook! Total Chicago area congressional super PAC spending by district (as of 3/12/26): #IL02: $7.1 million #IL07: $8.4 million #IL08: $7 million #IL09: $9 million Total: $31.4 million

J Street Action Fund, the super PAC arm of the liberal pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street, is up with a new ad for Dan Biss in #IL09. Unlike AIPAC’s network, J Street is explicitly aligning with Biss and has spent $149,772.50 backing him in the race.

New AIPAC PAC enters IL09: "EDW Action Fund" is up with a $500,346 pro Laura Fine ad in IL09. The ad packages Fine as a “fighter”: beat the insurance companies, backed unmasking ICE agents, and can “take on Trump and win.” "EDW Action Fund" has previously been funded by AIPAC.

IL08 Super PAC spending so far: AIPAC pro Bean: $3.9M AIPAC anti Ahmed: $164K AI (Think Big) pro Bean: $1.1M New Democrat Majority pro Bean: $935K Crypto (Protect Progress) pro Bean: $557K Justice Democrats pro Ahmed: $57K Justice Democrats anti Bean: $57K #IL08 Total: $7 Million

IL02 primary super PAC spend (as of 3/11/26): AIPAC pro Miller: $4.4M Think Big (AI) pro Jackson: $1.4M Fairshake (crypto) anti Peters: $817K Progressive Promise pro Peters: $210K National Nurses pro Peters: $100K Working Families Party pro Peters: $100k #IL02 Total $7.1M

NEW: Justice Democrats @justicedemocrats.com launched a new anti-Melissa Bean ad in IL08, casting Bean as a Wall Street-aligned establishment politician who voted with Republicans for ICE, higher premiums and billionaire tax cuts, while boosting Junaid Ahmed as a progressive fighter.

Thank you @abc7chicago.bsky.social for interviewing me about the massive amount of Super PAC spending in Illinois Democratic congressional elections!

AIPAC has now reported nearly $1 million in spending against Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social in #IL09, including a $750,000 TV buy. Its latest ad attacks Kat for taking money from James Cox Chambers Jr., a self-described "Marxist-Leninist" and member of the billionaire Cox family.

Working Families Party PAC released an ad in #IL02 attacking Donna Miller, saying she “folded” and “voted to hand over our personal, private information to ICE,” while contrasting Robert Peters as a progressive fighter. Is internal campaign polling showing Donna Miller up?

IL-09 POLL: In the 2nd @evanstonroundtable.bsky.social/PPP primary poll, Daniel Biss is unmoved at 24% and Kat Abughazaleh has jumped to 20%, narrowing the gap to 4%. Laura Fine falls to 14%, Mike Simmons up to 10%. Undecideds still sizable at 17%. Polled March 9-10, MOE 3.6%. See below for more!

New PPP poll paid for by the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association shows Stratton ahead: Juliana Stratton: 32% Raja Krishnamoorthi; 30% Robin Kelly: 13%

Bean indeed was supported in a new ad today, paid for by pro-crypto PAC Protect Progress, Democrat-supporting arm of Fairshake. Bean is the sixth of eight frontrunners who filled out the Stand With Crypto questionnaire to receive direct or indirect support from a linked super PAC.

New Tulchin Research poll (Raja internal) in the Illinois Democratic U.S. Senate primary, heading into the final week. Raja Krishnamoorthi 39% Juliana Stratton 28% Robin Kelly 12%

Anthropic's super PAC is the first super PAC to go negative against Jesse Jackson Jr in #il02. One million dollar expenditure against Jackson.

NEW: Super PAC “Progressive Values Illinois” just entered #ILSen. It is funded by billionaire Donald Wilson, a business partner of Trump Media. $101K backing Raja Krishnamoorthi $101K backing Robin Kelly $101K opposing Juliana Stratton

NEW: Juliana Stratton’s campaign launches a sharp anti Raja Krishnamoorthi commercial, saying he took millions from Trump donors and crypto. And of course, attacking him for voting to thank ICE. #ILSen