A look at campaign finances of local political candidates
November 14, 2022
Illinois State House of Representatives candidate
Carol Ammons, Democratic candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives who ran unopposed, received over $215,000 since Jan. 1, 2020, for her campaign, according to data from the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Ammons received the bulk of her donations from unions and union-affiliated political action committees. These donations accumulated to approximately $150,000, covering more than half of her total donations.
Further contributors to Ammons include Nicor Gas, Ameren Transmission Company and Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company, which collectively sent $6,650.
With this money, Carol Ammons and her team spent it variously. $14,000 of it went to advertising for billboards, yard signs and Squarespace. Printing and mailing fees consumed over $30,000 of Ammons’ total. Transportation, for example gas, car lease payments and airfare, took up over $20,000.
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Lastly, Ammons sent approximately $18,000 to the other candidates’ campaigns, including $9,415 to her husband and Democrat for county clerk, Aaron Ammons.
Illinois State Senate candidate
Democratic Illinois Sen. Scott Bennett received over $650,000 since Jan. 1, 2020, for his campaign. Bennett, running uncontested, received the majority of the funds by means of individual contributions, transfers in from other campaigns and in-kind, non-monetary contributions.
Transfer ins from PACs accounted for over $220,000, with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers making a notable $57,800 contribution to the campaign in August 2020.
Further notable contributions include $70,000 from the Illinois Political Action Committee for Education, $50,000 from the Southern Central Illinois Laborers’ Political League, $20,000 from Rachelle Aud Crowe for Senate and $10,000 from Comcast.
In the same time period, Bennett’s campaign has spent just under $420,000. The largest of his expenditures was approximately $95,000 spent on mail via The Strategy Group LLC. Bennett spent a further $125,000 on campaigning and printing, including $55,000 on media. Over $36,000 was spent on transportation and lodging.
Among numerous other expenses, $32,000 went to various sponsorships and donations. Bennett donated to the University of Illinois Foundation, C-U at Home and the Champaign Park District, among many others.
Champaign County clerk candidates
The incumbent Democratic Champaign County clerk, Aaron Ammons, received $57,465 since the start of 2020. Of the $57,465 the Ammons campaign received, $43,515, or about 76% of his total donations, came from organizations, including $10,000 from the JB for Governor organization and $15,250 from an assortment of labor unions.
His campaign also received $9,415 from his wife’s campaign. Carol Ammons is running for state representative in the 103rd district.
During an introduction he gave at a forum for the Champaign County clerk race on Oct. 27, Ammons, a former union president, affirmed his support for labor unions, saying “We need to preserve worker rights … I wholeheartedly support the right to collectively bargain.”
Ammons spent a total of $20,462 on his campaign, including almost $9,000 on printing, $1,800 on “Television Media” and a $1000 contribution to Delia Ramirez’s campaign, who is running for Congress in Illinois’ third congressional district.
While much of the almost $60,000 in donations contributed to Ammons’ campaign come from political organizations or labor unions, a majority of donations to Stuber’s campaign come from contributions from individual people, many under $500.
Of the $26,313.70 received in donations by the Stuber campaign, about 56%, or $14,720.62, came from contributions from individual people. Only five of his 32 total donations came from organizations or businesses.
Stuber received $5,240 from the Champaign County Republican Central Committee and $1,500 from Middle Ground PAC, a Republican PAC that, according to OpenSecrets.com, is associated with former Illinois representative Timothy Johnson and also supported Regan Deering, Republican candidate for Illinois representative.
Stuber also spent $21,496.78 on his campaign, according to records, including almost $10,000 on a billboard and almost $4,000 on yard signs. Stuber also paid around $300 for social media marketing on Snapchat.
Champaign County Sheriff candidates
Newcomer Republican John Brown has a significant lead in terms of donations over incumbent Democrat Dustin Heuerman. Brown has totalled over $30,000 and Heuerman around $15,000.
A vast majority of Brown’s donations came from in the form of individual donations, totaling $22,302.87, or about 71.8% of the campaign’s total finances, whereas Heuerman’s campaign is primarily self-funded, having put in $6,382.70 of his own money into the campaign or about 42.1% of the total.
Of Brown’s $31,042.87 total donations he has spent $20,355.15, mostly toward newspaper and radio ads and signs. Brown also spent over $1,000 on various social media advertisements.
Of Heuerman’s $14,907.34 in total donations, he has spent $9,381.86. Heuerman spent $5,523.47 on yard signs and radio, or 58.9% of his total donations. Heuerman did not spend any campaign money on social media but decided to focus on sponsorships, with $700 dollars going towards them.
