2nd quarter is Underwood’s first $1 million plus quarter in 2020 election cycle
Wednesday was the filing deadline for congressional candidates to submit their campaign disclosure reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for the financial activity for the 2nd quarter of 2020.
And given the fundraising success of McHenry County’s two representatives in the House, Congressman Sean Casten and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood each have over $3 million in cash on hand to be used for the general election.
The 2nd quarter FEC reports are the last campaign disclosure reports before vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots begin to hit the streets for voters who have applied for a VBM ballot. The earliest date the election authorities can send VBM ballots is September 24.
Here are the financials through June 30:
With the 2nd quarter FEC filings, here is the remaining schedule for campaign disclosure filings for all congressional candidates:
- October 15 for 3rd quarter campaign disclosure (July 1 – September 30)
- October 22 for pre-election campaign disclosure (October 1 – 14)
POLITICO Illinois Playbook on Wednesday cited Oberweis’ numbers, which were released on Tuesday and an early release of Underwood’s numbers prior to their formal submission on Wednesday to the FEC:
“Underwood trounced state Sen. Jim Oberweis, the Republican challenging her for the 14th Congressional District seat. Oberweis raised $250,982 in the second quarter, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, and he has $373,417 banked.
“Don’t be deceived by Oberweis’ paltry numbers. He’s chairman of the Oberweis Dairy and has the means to self-fund his campaign. Oberweis already loaned himself $1 million for the competitive GOP primary, which he paid off to the tune of [$400,000]
$500,000. The campaign is also relying on financial support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has put Oberweis on its Young Guns list to support.“That backing would need to come soon if Oberweis wants to match Underwood, who has the means to go up on TV weeks before fall.”
POLITICO Illinois Playbook 7/15/20
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McHenry County Blog did not receive any kind of statement from Oberweis’ congressional campaign, and none was posted on their campaign website or social media. Their spokesperson did respond to POLITICO Wednesday morning:
“Jim bought ads during the primary, and I would expect us to do more TV in the General Election.”
Oberweis spox, POLITICO 7/15/20
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COMMENTARY: While POLITICO and other news sources on Wednesday focused on the just under $251K Oberweis raised completely from donors, the number that jumps out more at me is the less than $39K Oberweis’ campaign spent from April 1 through June 30.
Yes, this was at the height of the initial wave of the pandemic and there were very few face-to-face events, with Illinois only entering Phase 4 of its Restore Illinois reopening plan in late June.
That said, compared with the campaign spending of the two Democrats, plus 6th district Republican nominee Jeanne Ives, the lack of staffing up Oberweis’ campaign has done over a 3 month period makes Oberweis’ campaign appears three months behind on important components for a successful fall campaign that will be needed, like opposition research, and the drafting and publishing of policy/position papers.
Yes, Oberweis with his wealth can write a check at any time which goes well into the 7-figure range at the drop of a hat. And as one local political observer noted, Oberweis knows his own money is better off outside of his campaign where it can earn interest instead of sitting in a zero-interest campaign fund.
So now at mid July, Oberweis’ campaign must begin showing signs of real life for winning the general election. While the humanitarian projects the campaign has been involved during the pandemic and the aftermath of the racial unrest are good, Oberweis, before this month is out, needs to show 14th district voters he’s focused on winning the general election.
Yesterday, a joint fundraiser was announced in Lake County in unincorporated Fremont Township hosted by Al and Kathy Salvi at their home in late July (more details to be published later).
Additionally, next month, Congressman Dan Crenshaw is headlining a fundraiser for the Illinois Republican Party in Bolingbrook.
Whether Crenshaw will do a separate event around the same time for Jeanne Ives and/or Jim Oberweis or other House candidates on the ticket remains to be seen.
But some high-powered fundraising help appears to be hitting the 6th and 14th congressional districts to prepare for the fall campaign, and the initial wave of VBM ballots hitting the street in late September.
Turning fully to the 6th district, Ives released the following statement yesterday:
“A year ago, I launched this campaign from my kitchen table. Since then, we have built an army of hundreds of dedicated volunteers, interns and donors who are tired of Sean Casten’s unfair self-serving agenda of special deals and higher taxes.
“We’re proud that an overwhelming amount of support came from individual contributors, people mostly inside the state of Illinois. In contrast Congressman Casten relies on corporate PACs and special interest groups for funding. While my donors both large and small are making real sacrifices to reach voters, Sean Casten voted for HR1 which would force taxpayers to fund campaigns – he must have forgotten we have $26 trillion in debt. That’s the difference between us: He’s working to line his pockets. I am running to protect your pocketbook.
“This race was never going to be easy, but if we raise enough money to connect with enough people — we win. I am incredibly grateful for the support and generosity so many have shown. Now we just have to buckle down and take it over the finish line.”
Jeanne Ives statement 7/15/20
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External references:
- POLITICO: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2020/07/15/its-dire-say-illinois-mayors-underwood-out-raises-oberweis-a-divisive-tradition-wild-weed-sales-489805
- Jeanne Ives statement 7/15/20: https://www.jeanneforcongress.com/2020/07/15/ives-reports-strong-second-quarter-fundraising/
- Capitol Fax: https://capitolfax.com/2020/07/15/casten-has-large-cash-advantage-over-ives/
Update: Jim Oberweis Statement on Q2 Fundraising
Early Thursday evening, the Oberweis campaign issued a statement from 14th district nominee Jim Oberweis concerning the 2nd quarter fundraising for his campaign:
“During the Primary Election our campaign focused our spending on talking directly to voters in the 14th District in what became a highly contested and costly race.
“Since the primary, my race has become one of the most important races nationally. I have been promoted in the National Republican Congressional Committee Young Guns program to the highest level by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, after being added to the program a year ago.
“Despite the obvious challenges of raising money during a pandemic, we finished the quarter strong and are in a great position to win.
“The pandemic has not stopped our campaign.
“Now that the economy is starting to come back – we anticipate even more fundraising success in the third quarter. Our campaign is well poised to flip the 14th red in November.”
Jim Oberweis statement 7/16/20
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This is uh, needless to say, not good for Ives and Oberweis.
Ives is done, she is burning way too much on overhead with an 8 person staff.
Casten probably has 3 or 4 staffers tops and is just stashing cash away and will be able to buy much more ad space than Ives.
If Ives can somehow prove the race is winnable (good luck with those fundraising numbers) and get some outside help, it’s the only way she has a chance, but like I said she’s mostly done, handicappers are moving this towards a Democrat hold.
What is Oberweis doing?
If he wants any chance of winning he needs to pony up his own money and soon.
If he doesn’t this race is over with as well.
If Rezin or even Lauf had won the primary this would look more competitive at this point but for now it looks like both Underwood and Casten will be in for at least another 2 years.
Regarding the opposition research note: all that should come from the NRCC.
Most congressional campaigns dont have staffers doing oppo.
Either they pay outside help or let the committees handle it.
I, as well as you, have seen NRCC and DCCC oppo research reports, and agreed, that kind of work is contracted out, not “employed” by campaign.
To be more thorough, a campaign, especially a competitive campaign, would have expenses for research, oppo or otherwise.
As I said in article, it was Oberweis’ less than $39K spent over a 3-month period that jumped out at me.
Agreed.
It does not seem like they have their act together.
Evil is backed financially.
What else is new?
And 95% of Underwood’s $$$$$$$$$ comes from out of state(not out of district).
So much from California and NY.
Get that fake nurse back to hell from whence she came.
Lopez’s analysis is top of the line!
As long as groups like BLM Global Network keep getting donations from useful idiots to fund supporters of communism, Democrats like Underwood and Casten will always have more money in the bank.
“Don’t be deceived by Oberweis’ paltry numbers” -Politico
If he has so much money to give himself, what is he waiting for?
Didn’t he have better quarters during the primary?
Potential donors are going to see these “paltry numbers” and have second thoughts when they see he’s raised a quarter million in a quarter and Underwood has raised 1.27 million, when she has 3.18 million cash on hand and he has 373 thousand.
If I recall correctly, Hultgren was more competitive relative to his opponent than Oberweis is right now.
Oberweis does not have another quarter to wait for, to signal to donors that he is competitive.
The next quarter’s reporting won’t be until October 15th, which is too late (early voting will be underway by then).
He needs to get money now, and he should already have it.
Have the Oberweis dummies ever heard of signaling?
People see these numbers and think you’re a loser!
People are going to see this and think it’s over.
They’re going to have second thoughts about giving Oberweis money in the future.
He gave himself a million in the primary and these are the numbers he posts in July?!
What is his campaign thinking?
Are they trying to lose or are they just a bunch of dummies?
This is crazy to me.
Ives is getting way more money (almost twice as much as Oberweis) and lives in a district that is bluer than the district Oberweis is running in!
Oberweis gets outraised by his opponent more than 6:1 in the previous quarter, while Ives only gets outraised by about 1.55:1.
I don’t know if that indicates a lot of enthusiasm for Ives, apathy towards Oberweis, or both — whatever it may be, these “paltry numbers” are a very bad sign for people who want to replace Lauren Underwood.
INTEREST in another account?
Man, there aint no PRINCIPAL in this account, and people see that and get spooked!
These are BABY NUMBERS, John!!!
Rezin or Lauf would have had way more money by now.
This is a high stakes race that people across the country are looking at.
If monthly reporting is an option, maybe he should have a big money blitz in July and/or August and release those numbers, just to put out a signal and put some confidence in donors that they’re not throwing away money if they contribute.
At this point, high level GOP officials have got to be thinking about talking to Oberweis in private, convincing him to drop out, and appointing someone else if that is still an option.
It is not looking good for the Republicans.
Oathkeeper, thank you for the props.
Correcting, you are thorough as always, and a follow-up article is likely going to be if Oberweis’ campaign doesn’t signs of life, soon (for example, a good commercial buy in July, or prior to Democratic National Convention next month), then we run the risk of Underwood getting involved in other races.
Let me give an example, and I purposely use the congressional district where frequent blog commenter “D J” lives, the TX-24.
The Democratic runoff in TX-24 concluded Tuesday night and a traditional Texas Democrat candidate lost, by significant margin, to a new generation, leftist/progressive by the name of Candace Valenzuela, and a LOT of outside money was spent for Valenzuela to win.
She did, and Democratic runoff primary voters were moved to nominate a candidate over a former colonel in the USAF.
The progressive/Left is moving.
Valenzuela, if she wins and flips the open TX-24 seat, would be the first Latina black woman elected to Congress.
Don’t be surprised if Underwood is used by the DCCC to help Valenzuela raise money, even if it’s virtual.
Last night, Beto O’Rourke and his successor in the House, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, hosted an online fundraiser clear across Texas from El Paso to the Dallas suburbs, less than 24 hours after securing the nomination.
As D J and I have shared, we both know the Republicans nominated, convincingly Beth Van Duyne whom D J tells us is the real deal.
That said, D J and conservatives in TX-24 have a real fight on their hands in the once reliable suburbs of Dallas/Ft. Worth.
That race is rated as “TOSS UP” in any/all credible ratings.
Underwood becoming involved in other races across the country, will also open the door to more fundraising opportunities if well heeled donors in Texas and elsewhere become her national audience.
We remember, it’s nearly a year since Underwood held her fundraiser in San Francisco, but her raising money either for herself, or for someone else, is frightening.
Oberweis and his campaign have got to keep Underwood busy, and prevent her from helping other districts get flipped!
So her weird hairdo, something from Little Rascals, is deliberate since she’s got the dough to get a makeover like the smollett enabler Kim Foxx did
John, has the primary election between Reyes and Gonzales in the 23rd district been called yet?
That one is a nail biter!
Gonzales is backed by Trump and Reyes is backed by Cruz.
Last I checked it was too close to call and it was almost exactly 50-50.
Wasn’t there another race you were looking at where some Republican was accused of being a plant because they say she is the cousin of some Democratic politician?
What’s going on with that one?
And there was another race — I can’t remember what district but I think it was in Florida — where a candidate claimed to have the backing of the governor but she was being dishonest.
I’m wondering what happened in these contests.
Yes, I lurk your twitter a little bit lol
The TX-23 has still not been called by the AP. Gonzales (Trump-backed) still leads Reyes (Cruz backed) by 7 votes, and race awaiting opening of overseas and vote-by-mail ballots.
Both sides calling in the lawyers.
The FL-22, the candidate Jessi Melton claimed to have backing of both Governor DeSantis and the Republican Jewish Council.
Both know nothing about it.
Ironically, her campaign has surged fundraising, by still behind with cash on hand.
The effects of criminal justice reforms intended to fight racial disparities in the prison system are now yielding predictable consequences in virtually every American metropolitan area.
This is the product of Jewish financiers like George Soros bankrolling prosecutors who prioritize punishing law-abiding white people for political crimes while letting actual criminals go free, along with the Republican Party’s total abandonment of law and order as a policy objective.
The media has been trying to blame the spike in homicides on the Covid lockdown. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims that black criminals are killing people because they’re hungry.
Common sense would say otherwise. Homicides across the nation dropped in April and May — when the lockdown was in full effect and people were inside their homes. The multi-institution war on local law enforcement is the clear variable here.
Cities like Nashville and Kansas City have seen massive spikes in crime during the spring, but what these cities share in common is a policy to release inmates back into the street for health reasons. They were compelled to do this under political pressure.
Sober discussions on the increase in murders and shootings since the George Floyd riots began has largely been focused on New York City, where the elite live. But the one-two punch of Jewish media attacks on police, bail reform, anti-racist hysteria and district attorney’s aggressively prosecuting officers who have to use force against black criminals has turned already violent American cities into completely inhospitable war zones.
In Portland, a hotbed of anarchist organizing and where leftists are very influential in local politics, shootings in July are up by 380% compared to the same time period in 2019.
In Minneapolis and St. Paul, the origin of the George Floyd riots, there have been 50 gunshots for every day since Floyd died. Homicides have doubled in 2020, in what many are referring to as the “Ferguson Effect.”
In Indianapolis, the homicide rate is breaking records. Milwaukee, which is 40% black, now has a murder rate it hasn’t seen since the early 1990s.
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Denver, Louisville, Charleston, Chicago, Newark, and many more have seen their homicide rates jump in some cases by triple digit percentage points.
St. Louis, which in 2019 was already the 9th most violent city in the world, is now slated to climb the list in 2020. Baltimore, the 11th most dangerous city on earth, will also be breaking its own record this year. You are significantly more likely to be murdered in St Louis or Baltimore than in Johannesburg, South Africa or the favelas of Recife, Brazil.
The unopposed Africanization of the United States is happening on Donald Trump’s watch. While the president tweets “Law & Order” almost once a day, his administration is doing nothing. His party has no plan for restoring order in the country either. In fact, Trump’s campaign has decided to join the NAACP and Black Lives Matter in calling Joe Biden “racist” for supporting the 1994 crime bill, which dramatically reduced violent crime in the country.
The GOP and Trump’s turn against law and order is not even a hopeless play for minority votes. Black politicians like Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams are loudly protesting the cuts to police in their neighborhoods, as their constituents are being killed in large numbers. A large minority of blacks — which on paper could be won over by Republicans by making their neighborhoods safer — are not happy with the policies unleashing crime in their communities.
The real reason the Republicans have allowed our country to be plunged into African anarchy is their largely Jewish and libertarian donors demanded it.
Washington’s corruption is now taking the form of stray bullets hitting countless children in the street.
https://national-justice.com/united-states-africa-black-crime-wave-overwhelms-virtually-all-major-american-cities
Lopez says:
“Last night, Beto O’Rourke and his successor in the House, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, hosted an online fundraiser clear across Texas from El Paso to the Dallas suburbs, less than 24 hours after securing the nomination.”
Beto is a moron, an imbecile. How tragic that he has traction with useful idiot supporters and the fawning mostly left wing media. He, Schiff, Pelosi, Dementia Dufus Biden, Schumer, Dope Durbin, AOC, Cherokee Liz, Crazy Bernie… and so many other Democrats are just so reckless and stupid and they would allow anarchists to destroy the US Government.
State Senator Jim Oberweis is 74 years old.
At that age, most congresspeople have retired or are retiring. 😑
Unlike his 2008 run, he now has some legislative experience. 😃
As a freshman congressperson, what could he accomplish? 😑
Bred, are you retarded?
The wreckers you named are certainly not ‘ reckless’ or ‘stupid’….
they are sinister and evil and know exactly what they are doing and the apparent consequences of their criminal conspiracies, but I agree w/ you that they do not foresee the full consequences of their treason.
Like the ape who saws off the tree limb they’re perched upon, the coming armed backlash will sweep them from power and perhaps to gallows or firing squads, or like the communists of Argentina, an airplane trip culminating in a 25,000 foot plunge a hundred miles out to sea.
Baby Eddie, yes Obermoo is a sclerotic old rich white man who lives the country club lifestyle and will turn out terrible, his opponent, however, is of the devil, a satanic creature who is both not very smart, but a Soros cats’ paw out to destroy Western Civilization.
She won’t last very long when the tide inevitably turns.
And all her jewish benefactors won’t be able to help her.
Baby Valeurs, I didn’t write what you wrote about Oberweis, who might accept Jewish donor money too. 😃
Republicans support New World Order abd One World Government too.
The Bushes did/do. 😮
The Bushes and Amnesty Reagan and of course the Masonic cypher Eisenhower who woke up to the Deep State at the time of his farewell address, were all bad, bad, bad in their own ways, advancing the NWO.
Noriega, who we installed, gives a speech in the Panamanian congress about hook nosed devils sitting in NYC skyscrapers dictating Panama’s foreign policy and presto!
He’s suddenly an international drug lord requiring a US military invasion!
Jimmy boy O.
Better quit wearing his contraption or I’m a lost vote.
He’ll never call out Underwood for what she is: an antiWhite lesbian Antifa PoS who won’t get presentable coif bc she’s so woke!
Oafkeeper –
So, you find Kim Foxx to be more attractive?
✌️😎
Mellow Punk, Kim Foxx has a simian countenance.
She really does!
Realist, she also has a distinctly offensive odor about her, and all the talcum powder in Cook County can’t cover it up!