SPRINGFIELD — Republican Bruce Rauner raised more campaign dollars in the past three months, but Gov. Pat Quinn sat on the bigger stockpile of unspent money with four months left in the governor’s race, newly filed state campaign records showed Tuesday.
Between April and June, Rauner raised $8 million for his campaign to unseat the Democratic incumbent, spent $5.9 million and ended the quarter with $3.5 million in the bank.
“Extremely grateful for our growing support,” Rauner said in a message sent to his Twitter followers Tuesday. “More than 8500 donations this quarter. 80% of donations — over 6800 — were $100 or less.”
The largest chunk of the new money coming into Rauner’s campaign — $3 million — came from Kenneth Griffin, a hedge fund investor and Rauner’s close friend. Griffin pitched in an additional $22,299 in in-kind contributions related to the use of his personal jet, which Rauner has used for campaign events.
Quinn, meanwhile, took in $3.7 million during the period; spent slightly more than $878,000; and reported $11.6 million in cash on hand as of June 30.
“I’m grateful to have the support of everyday people across Illinois as we continue to tackle the tough issues and get the job done,” Quinn said in a prepared message announcing his fundraising results. “Illinois is making a comeback, but we’ve got more work to do to create more jobs, deliver stronger education and build an economy that works for everyone.”
The biggest chunk of contributions for Quinn came from two SEIU political action committees: SEIU Healthcare Illinois and the SEIU Illinois Council PAC Fund. Each donated $500,000 to Quinn’s re-election bid. SEIU and its affiliates have given Quinn $6.2 million since 1994, state campaign records show.
The Democratic Governors Association funneled more than $994,000 in cash into Quinn’s campaign during the period and provided $105,300 in in-kind contributions for printing, research and consulting costs on the governor’s behalf.
An additional $300,000 in new contributions came to Quinn from the UA Political Education Committee, a Maryland-based PAC representing plumbers and pipe fitters, Quinn’s campaign disclosed earlier this month.
Candidates for local, state and federal office faced a Tuesday deadline to file their quarterly campaign fundraising reports, which offer a glimpse into the financial health of the top candidates vying for statewide office.
In the state’s other marquee race, the campaign for U.S. Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., reported $6.5 million in his war chest for his November re-election bid, easily dwarfing rival state Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove.
Oberweis disclosed having $862,132.90 in his campaign fund, according to new reports filed with the Senate.
The Friends of Dick Durbin committee’s net contributions for the second quarter ending on June 30 totaled $853,073.90. During the same time, the Oberweis for Senate committee’s net contributions were $176,578.00. The latest reports for Durbin and Oberweis were filed with the Senate on Monday.
In the last quarter, Oberweis loaned his Senate campaign $500,000; to date, Oberweis has loaned his campaign $1 million.
A story about the 2014 Senate contests in Tuesday’s Roll Call, a publication covering Capitol Hill, rated Illinois a “Safe Democratic” seat.
In one other piece of fundraising news Tuesday, the Barack Obama Foundation on Tuesday released the names of its inaugural group of donors. he group is small: three couples and an individual. The foundation will eventually have to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, but at this early stage only wanted to raise money to get the organization up and running as bids for the library came in on June 16.
The disclosure by the Chicago-based foundation is voluntary but very limited.
The amounts were disclosed only in very broad terms, and the hometowns and occupations of the donors — standard information on campaign finance reports — were not part of the voluntary disclosure. So the most we know is a range of what the foundation raised: at least $850,000, but no more than $1.75 million.
Those giving between $250,001 and $500,000 included Tim Collins; Cari and Michael J. Sacks, and Marilyn and Jim Simons.
Sacks is the CEO of Chicago-based Grosvenor Capital Management, and he has been a top “bundler” — megabucks fundraiser — for Obama.
Simons is listed by Forbes as one of the world’s richest men. He is the founder of Renaissance Technologies Corp. and is from East Setauket, New York.