And we’re off! It is the day after the Labor Day holiday, and fall is here (in spite of the high temperatures forecast for this week)! Today, September 3, is the first day candidates’ petitions for nomination in the March 17, 2020, primary elections can be circulated, with the exception of presidential primary related candidates.
Now all of the campaigns, but especially for Congress in the IL-06 and IL-14 districts, begin with new earnestness and urgency. Now that the calendar has turned to September, multiple dates are important. The most crucial of the many important dates are September 30 and October 15, since candidates’ fundraising for the 3rd quarter closes by 11:59PM local time on the 30th. Two weeks later, federal candidates will need to submit their 3rd quarter reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which are then made public.
In the IL-14, this will be when Republican primary voters will see separation among the seven Republican candidates for Congress, as viability will be measurable by the candidates’ fundraising results, which is a direct response to a candidate’s message.
Concerning money, let’s see what Congresswoman Underwood said about fundraising for the primary in 2018, when she was one of seven candidates in the Democratic primary. This was from the interview between Underwood and Kara Swisher, which was recorded in San Francisco on July 29 before an audience, but published through Vox Recode/Decode on August 5 (the bold responses are Swisher’s quotes):
Given Underwood said she raised only $350,000 and her six primary opponents combined did not raise that much, the amount for the Republicans to raise will be quite more for the 2020 primary, given the results of the 2nd quarter fundraising:
Given these numbers are now 2 months old and did not include candidates Sue Rezin (filed candidacy with the FEC on 7/9) or Catalina Lauf (filed 8/21), Oberweis’ totals being greater than the other three Republican candidates listed will not surpass his primary opposition once Rezin’s and Lauf’s fundraising numbers are included beginning with 3rd quarter fundraising.
Also note, Underwood mentioned her primary campaign did cable TV advertising. The Republicans will need to do broadcast TV commercials, in addition to cable TV, so the amounts of money each viable Republican candidate must raise will be even more.
As was said in a previous article, running for Congress is the big leagues of elective politics. The quality of a candidate’s message will need to get out to the broader audience, through effective media advertising as well as good old-fashioned shoe-leather of a real grass roots campaign ground game with hundreds of volunteers going door-to-door for their candidate.
Here are some other important dates to remember for the federal races for the remainder of the year, and unless noted, the dates are for all of the federal candidates in the IL-06 or IL-14:
- TODAY, candidate petitions can be circulated, except presidential candidates, delegates and alternate delegates
- (IL-14) September 6, Jim Oberweis Financial Disclosure Statement should be accessible for public viewing
- September 10, special congressional election in the NC-09 district to fill congressional vacancy, and this race’s result will impact congressional races going into 2020
- (IL-14) September 20, Catalina Lauf Financial Disclosure Statement due
- September 30, last day for 3rd quarter fundraising
- October 5, first day presidential primary petitions, including delegates and alternate delegates can be circulated
- October 15, Campaign Disclosure reports for 3rd quarter due to FEC
- (IL-06), October 16, Jeanne Ives Financial Disclosure Statement due per extension deadline
- (IL-14), November 6, Sue Rezin Financial Disclosure Statement due per extension deadline
- November 25, first day to file nominating petitions
- December 2, last day to file nominating petitions
- December 31, last day for 4th quarter fundraising
- January 2-3, days to file presidential nominating petitions, delegates and alternate delegates petitions
- January 15, Campaign Disclosure reports for 4th quarter due to FEC
Full transcript of Congresswoman Lauren Underwood’s interview in San Francisco on July 29, published on August 5, in the following link:
Don’t be surprised if Catella and possibly Malouf don’t even get on the ballot.
They are not running serious campaigns.
Malouf has 20 followers on Twitter.
I don’t see any social media, website, or events for Catella.
If a Republican candidate in the 14th district wants to get double the signatures required (which is the rule of thumb to survive a challenge), they’ll need to get just over 21 signatures per day from now until the last day of filing.
You bet. We will once again be working with Rep. Underwood’s team to insure her continued support of our District.
More respect for my soldier candidate’s campaign! What could be more serious than a Civil War re-enactment? Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock…
LLavona, are you being paid by Franks to post here. Otherwise, you’re a completely abnormal human being who needs psych. care.
Underwood is fuelish and foolish. She thinks she’s a genius, but her brain is pus.
Why does Underwood get to circulate earlier than others?
She doesn’t.
Candidates from both major parties were allowed to petition as of yesterday, and if you saw her or any candidate circulating before yesterday you should have called the police and the board of elections.
Correcting, back in the 2008 Republican primary, a homeless man filed petitions to be a Republican candidate for IL-14 in addition to then-State Senator Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis.
While operatives aligned to both Lauzen and Oberweis worked together to have the 3rd candidate removed from the ballot, they were unsuccessful, in part because the candidate proved he was an Illinois resident and he had enough valid signatures.
He stayed on the general primary ballot (but did not file for the special primary election ballot, with the special election primary being held on the same day).
From that historical perspective, if a homeless Illinois resident can successfully petition to be on the ballot, so can Anthony Catella and Danny Malouf, in spite of the clear shortcomings of their respective declared candidacies.
While both men bring unique perspectives to the table and could and likely will be on the March 17 ballot, unless both men see a jolt of support including financially, and in Catella’s case, simply filing papers with the FEC to legally raise money, they will be quickly relegated to lower-tier candidates status in the 7-person Republican primary field in IL-14 when compared to the established candidacies of the other 5.
We’ll know for certain by December 2.
It’s not unbelievable at all that a homeless person was able to get on the ballot.
A homeless person could collect signatures all day.