Democrat John Curtis and Republican Norine Hammond are in a battle for the 93rd State Representative seat and while no public polling has been released, Hammond has a big advantage in the money game.
Dating back to Aug. 2017, when Curtis announced he would run against the Assistant Minority Leader in the Illinois House, Hammond has raised $861,000 to Curtis’ $414,000.
Curtis’ top benefactor is the Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE that’s given $110,000 to the Democrat while Hammond’s top donor is the Illinois House Republican Organization, which at $322,000 eclipses Curtis’ total fundraising haul.
She’s also spent more of that money that Curtis, $539,000 to the Democrat’s $113,000.
Curtis has used about half of what he’s spent on consulting and staff, while Hammond, with perhaps less need being the incumbent, only spent about 3% on staff.
Hammond has put about 3/4 of her expenditures towards television and radio ads, spending close to $400,000 on television and radio ads. Curtis’ disclosures with the Illinois State Board of Elections show no spending on TV or radio, but he threw nearly $12,000 at billboards, $4,400 on printing and $8,000 on signs.
Hammond spent a similar amount on printing and signs and but less than $1,000 on billboards.
Democrat Curtis has made social media a cornerstone of his campaign, having also spent $1,500 for such efforts, while Hammond hasn’t reported anything spent on social media.
Sometimes a gauge of voter enthusiasm is the number of individual donors, which Curtis leads in, 84 to Hammond’s 72.
However, when you account for donors outside the 93rd District, both had 64 individual contributors.
