At the Illinois State Fair, ubiquitous corn dogs, a 500-pound butter cow, funnel cakes and Ferris wheels competed for late-summer glory.
Don’t be fooled by the festivities. The nastiness is coming. It is campaign season, after all. For Illinois Democrats and Republicans, the fair was the first big event of the political campaigns for the 2026 midterms.
The Democrats flocked there to raise their fists and pound the podiums. Their assemblage resounded with calls for fighting back against President Donald Trump and boisterous camaraderie in the name of winning in 2026.
Democrats may be rallying and kumbaya-ing now, but their upcoming primary campaigns will be brutal and fiercely competitive. The contestants have already been fitted for their boxing gloves. Now, it’s time to get ugly.
Just take a gander at the rare number of open congressional seats in the Chicago area alone — four, all in Democratic strongholds. The nominating petitions are rolling out, fast and furious, with 10 or more aspirants hoping to take the field in some districts.
Voters should get ready to hunker down for wall-to-wall TV campaign commercials and social media pitches, drowning us in ugly opposition research.
The marquee bloodbath will be the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Dick Durbin, who is retiring. The leading candidates, U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, all know that a Democratic nomination in this deep blue state is a likely ticket to Washington.
No wonder a little nastiness surfaced at the fair when the Senate candidates took reporters’ questions.
Stratton touted the fact that she is declining to accept campaign contributions from corporate political action committees.
“I am the only candidate that’s not accepting any corporate PAC dollars in my campaign,” she told reporters. “I want to make sure that I’m centering the voices of Illinois families and not corporate special interests. That’s a distinction. And I believe that with the grassroots support that I have, we are going to raise the resources that I need to get my message out.”
Krishnamoorthi could not resist responding to Stratton with a jab. “Remember, she’s also hoping for a super PAC to come to her rescue,” he said. “So, it’s very rich for her to accuse others of somehow being beholden to other interests. The point is this: I’m blessed to have tens of thousands of individual donors who have supported me.”
Rich, indeed. Krishnamoorthi was suggesting that the PAC would be funded by billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker, who has endorsed Stratton in the race.
That’s just a hint of what is to come.
The stakes are sky high. This race brings talent, hefty resumes and extreme ambition to the fight, and the three are all giving up safe elected seats to make this run.
Start with the biggest political cheese — money. Krishnamoorthi is already gaining ground, entering the race with a war chest north of $20 million. For weeks, he has been running upbeat, playful commercials pushing his “Raja” moniker, jovial grin and up-from-food-stamps biography.
Stratton and Kelly will have to go negative on him, and fast, if they hope to get ahead.
Race and gender are sure to offer up more flashpoints.
Some Illinois Democrats, especially women, are excited about the prospect of sending an African American woman to the Senate. Since two are running in the primary, they will surely split their two major bases, Black and female voters. And lose.
So, will one be strongly encouraged to get out? That’s the menacing question the political classes have been whispering all summer. Will it be Kelly, who is cloaking her campaign in her 12-year record in Congress, or Stratton, who lacks federal legislative chops but is counting on the Pritzker administration’s record and billionaire bucks to pull her through?
As the fall campaign kicks off, the heat will be on, and the whispers will morph into a chorus.
For Stratton, Pritzker is a double-edged sword. He is running for a third gubernatorial term. But he won’t rule out a 2028 presidential bid. He is already looking and acting like a White House wannabe. That presents complications for current campaigns, including his own.
Illinois voters might be wondering about Pritzker’s real ambitions. Is he committed to Illinois, or if he is reelected next year, might he vanish onto the presidential campaign trail?
Stratton is closely tied to Pritzker and campaigning on his administration’s record. Will that turn off voters who are disenchanted by the governor or concerned that he will deploy his riches to “buy” a Senate seat for his lieutenant governor?
Those questions will be rich fodder for Stratton’s opponents.
Here comes ugly.
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns appear in the Tribune each Wednesday. Write to her at LauraLauraWashington@gmail.com.
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