Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has given an infusion of cash to a super PAC backing the underdog Senate campaign of his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, who is competing in next month's Democratic primary for an open seat.
Pritzker, the billionaire Democratic governor and potential 2028 presidential contender, contributed $5 million in December to Illinois Future PAC, according to campaign finance reports filed over the weekend. His cousin Jennifer Pritzker and her spouse gave another $1.1 million. Together, they accounted for almost all of the super PAC's $6.3 million in fundraising last year.
The pro-Stratton super PAC said it has continued fundraising in 2026 and has now raised a total of more than $10 million. The source of those additional millions of dollars won’t be reported until March.
The group is in the middle of a weekslong ad campaign supporting Stratton's Senate bid and touting her partnership with Pritzker.
The millions in late spending are a shot in the arm for Stratton’s campaign, which had struggled for months to raise significant campaign donations and get up on the air in Chicago and other markets.
Meanwhile, the Democratic front-runner in the Senate race, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, amassed an enormous campaign war chest, spending a whopping $20.5 million on television ads since July, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Krishnamoorthi has reserved an additional $3.3 million in airtime booked through the March 17 primary.
Illinois Future PAC, which is run by former Pritzker aides, is playing catch-up. So far, it has spent $1.4 million on ads, with $320,000 more booked through the primary. The campaigns of Stratton and a third candidate, Rep. Robin Kelly, have spent only about $60,000 each on digital ads, but Kelly’s campaign just hit the airwaves.
Her campaign has booked $750,000 in airtime so far, but it said it plans to spend $2 million.
The wide spending gap on the airwaves underscores how Krishnamoorthi’s fundraising has dwarfed that of his opponents, thanks in large part to transfers from his House campaign, which built up money over years ahead of this race. Krishnamoorthi ended 2025 with $15.2 million left to spend, while Kelly had $1.6 million and Stratton had $1.1 million.
Early voting starts Thursday. The three Democratic candidates have debated twice already and are scheduled to face off several more times in televised debates before the election.
Stratton is “the only candidate in the race with a proven record of fighting for working families and getting things done. She partnered with Gov. Pritzker to raise the minimum wage, protect abortion rights, and ban assault weapons in Illinois, and she’ll take that same fight to Washington to pass Medicare for All, abolish ICE, and stand up to Trump,” Illinois Future PAC spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh, a former Pritzker staffer in the governor’s office, said in a statement.
“The PAC has continued to fundraise in the first quarter of 2026, and has now exceeded $10 million in total raised,” she said. “We look forward to continuing to share Juliana’s record and platform with voters.”
The PAC’s latest ads say Stratton believes “ICE must be abolished."
Pritzker, who has long been a big spender in elections, is allowed to spend as much as he wants on super PAC contributions. But watchdog groups and others allied with Krishnamoorthi’s campaign say they don’t like how a super PAC’s TV ad can be on the air for weeks before the group's donors are revealed or that a single person can influence an election in such a big way.
Brian Lemek, executive director of Defend the Vote, which advocates for protecting voting access and has endorsed Krishnamoorthi, said the big spending from the Pritzker-aligned PAC “underscores the broken system” in today's politics.
“These big-dollar donors should not be able to influence the elections this way” and “drown out the voices of regular people,” Lemek said. “Juliana Stratton is running a weak campaign, and she could not have a chance to win without a super PAC putting in the work for her.”
Asked about the criticism of the $5 million donation, Pritzker campaign spokesman Alex Gough replied: "Governor Pritzker is proud to support Juliana Stratton because she has been a steadfast partner in governance and is the best candidate."
In a statement, Stratton campaign spokeswoman Allison Janowski pointed to a recent report in the Chicago Sun-Times showing that Krishnamoorthi had accepted donations from Trump allies. Krishnamoorthi's team told the paper that those donations represent just 0.2% of the more than $24 million he raised and that he “welcomes anyone who supports” his mission.
“The real influence Illinoisans are concerned about is that of the MAGA allies, Project 2025 author, Heritage Foundation advisor, and ICE contractor that have funded Congressman Krishnamoorthi’s campaign," Janowski said. "Despite flooding the airwaves with $20 million in ads and spending the last 10 years taking money from anyone who was willing to dish it out, Krishnamoorthi’s polling has flatlined because he represents the status quo that voters are sick and tired of."
Krishnamoorthi campaign spokeswoman Hannah Goss fired back at Stratton, pointing to a complaint reported in the Chicago Tribune that Stratton misused an email list from her state campaign. The Stratton campaign has called the complaint "frivolous."
"Juliana Stratton’s shameless hypocrisy is exactly why people hate politics: She condemns corporate PAC money but has accepted nearly a quarter of a million dollars in corporate contributions and illegally funneled them into her Senate campaign," Goss said in a statement.
"Illinoisans deserve better than cheap pledges that do nothing to help everyday families," she continued. "Voters see through Stratton’s empty rhetoric, which is why she’s down 25 points in the polls.”
Eileen Boyce, spokeswoman for the Kelly campaign, said in a statement: "Robin is running her own race based on a proven track record of fighting and winning for Illinois. She's focused on affordability and making lives better."
"The most money," Boyce added," doesn't mean the most qualified."
