The Race
Melissa Bean, the Democratic nominee for Illinois' open 8th Congressional District seat, reported raising $2.42 million through Sept. 30, compared with $1.71 million for Republican Jennifer Davis. Bean's fundraising advantage of approximately $710,000 comes in a race rated Solid Democratic.
Davis, however, reported more cash on hand at $445,000 compared with Bean's $278,000. Bean reported $391,000 in campaign debt, while Davis reported $1 million, reflecting a personal loan that accounted for approximately 58% of her campaign's receipts.
Bean defeated Junaid Ahmed in the March 17 Democratic primary by approximately 5 percentage points. Davis defeated Mark Rice in the Republican primary by approximately 11 points.
Who's Writing the Checks?
The candidates' reported donor profiles differ considerably.
- Bean: Donors identifying as attorneys contributed approximately $136,000, followed by CEOs ($62,000), consultants ($45,000), and donors listing their occupation as lawyer ($41,000). Together, the two legal-profession categories accounted for approximately $177,000.
- Davis: Business owners contributed approximately $19,000, followed by executives ($14,000), managers ($12,000), and partners ($11,000). These four categories totaled approximately $56,000.
Retired or unemployed donors accounted for approximately 31% of Bean's itemized individual contributions, or $442,000, compared with 20% of Davis', or $84,000. Bean also received a larger share of her receipts from political committees: approximately 12%, compared with 1% for Davis.
The Bottom Line
Outside groups have reportedly spent about $7.6 million in the district, with most of it benefiting Bean. Although Bean leads in fundraising and the district favors Democrats, Davis entered October with about $167,000 in cash on hand.
---
Track the full campaign finance data at Allciv.com
AllCiv makes it easy to stay politically informed and involved.
---
Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article