The March 17 primary is just ten days away as we post this, and some of the Democratic primaries are starting to feel like the fight over the last TV at a Walmart on Black Friday. Dozens of candidates are fighting to stand out in competitive and crowded fields of candidates for the state’s U.S. Senate and four U.S. house races.
Some of those politicians are not just competing against each other, but against other groups that are trying to influence you and your vote. Those groups are wielding unprecedented influence in this election cycle, filling broadcast news commercial slots with ads attacking candidates for everything from past votes to alleged associations to accusations surrounding personal conduct.
These organizations – technically referred to as “super political action committees” or “Super PACs” – have benign-sounding names including “Elect Chicago Women” or “Illinois Future,” though you have to look or listen closely to notice the barely-there identification in some spots. But those names are vague on purpose, designed to obscure the people behind them.
“We can thank the 2010 (U.S. Supreme Court) Citizens United decision that equated campaign donations with free speech,” observed retired WBBM Newsradio political editor Craig Dellimore, who’s been watching political campaigns in our area for decades. “Billionaires get to speak a lot louder when you have that kind of law.”
He’s referring to the landmark decision that created Super PACs, which can accept and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence political contests. Virtually the only limit on Super PACs is a ban on direct coordination with a specific candidate.
One new Super PAC operating in this cycle is “Fairshake,” which is running commercials targeting candidates including 7th District Congressional hopeful LaShawn Ford. The anti-Ford ads trumpet decade-old federal financial fraud charges against the candidate, without noting that prosecutors later dropped all of them in exchange for a plea on a misdemeanor count. What’s also not clear in the ads is that Fairshake is a Super PAC bankrolled by the cryptocurrency industry.
So why is a crypto-affiliated Super PAC trying to take out LaShawn Ford? The ads appear to be tied to his vote as a state representative in favor of regulations on cryptocurrency. The spots brought condemnation last month from the candidate and the man he’s trying to replace, retiring Congressman Danny Davis. “The blood money that has been put into this campaign is something that is harmful to our democracy,” said Rep. Ford.
Super PACs and who’s benefitting from them have also become an issue in the race to succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the 9th District on Chicago’s North side and the North Shore. Candidates in that race have tried to make support from the pro-Israel group known as AIPAC an issue in that progressive district that includes Jewish enclaves in Skokie and Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood … but as Dellimore noted in our conversation this week, it’s deliberately hard to figure out which groups are pro-Israel.
“’Affordable Chicago Now’ is an AIPAC group,” he said, adding that “Elect Chicago Women” is also tied to AIPAC. You’d never know from the names, of course, and Dellimore says that’s the point. “This is a problem that's been growing over the last few years.”
Still another Super PAC and the billionaire politician linked to it drew criticism this week over its activity in the Democratic contest for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Dick Durbin. The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus this week told the outlet “Punchbowl News” that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been “heavy-handing” his support for Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton in that primary, mostly through millions of dollars in donations to the “Illinois Future” Super PAC running ads supporting Stratton. The Black Caucus has endorsed Stratton’s rival, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-2nd District), who like Stratton is a Black woman. The Caucus leader implied that Gov. Pritzker’s “beyond frustrating” support for Stratton “won’t soon be forgotten.”
That’s an ominous line directed at a man who is widely believed to be preparing a run for President in 2028, but the governor this week shrugged off any suggestion that his advocacy for Stratton is improper. “I stand with communities of color across the state and with candidates who are running for public office,” the governor told reporters, adding that Stratton is Illinois’ first Black lieutenant governor, and that the former state representative from Chicago has “done an outstanding job.”
But Democratic power brokers looking for a candidate to reclaim the White House in 2028 want someone with what the kids today call aura, and getting his lieutenant governor elected to the U.S. Senate would be one way for the governor to demonstrate that he has it. Enter the Super PAC, which short of an all-out reversal from the U.S. Supreme Court – highly unlikely, as the Court has shifted even further to the right since the initial ruling – is here to stay.
That means observant viewers and listeners will need to have their magnifying glasses and Google search bars ready to peel back the mystery surrounding the forces trying to convince them to vote for – or against – a particular candidate.