Tammy Duckworth outraised all Illinois Senate rivals in 2015

By Lynn Sweet

WASHINGTON – In 2015, Senate hopeful Tammy Duckworth, outraised Democratic rivals Andrea Zopp and Napoleon Harris and the GOP senator she wants to unseat, Mark Kirk, according to new Federal Election Commission reports.

However, Duckworth and Kirk are almost even with the amount of cash-on-hand they had as of Dec. 31.

The FEC reports covering 2015 show that Harris, a state senator from south suburban Harvey, has done no fundraising (except for $100) since his late entry into the primary last November. His campaign, such as it is is entirely self-funded. On the GOP side, FEC records did not show a report for James Marter, an Oswego software consultant who threw his first fundraiser on Jan. 2. However, his campaign did provide a copy of the report that was sent to the FEC.

With five weeks left until the March 15 primary, the Harris and Marter campaign challenge is to prove it has any viability, given that early voting in Illinois started Feb. 4.

Even if he is not mounting much of a campaign, Harris’ presence in the race, however, could provide a political problem for Zopp. That’s because her main strategy for winning the primary is attracting a big African-American turnout and then winning most of those votes. Harris is African American as is Zopp, who also has a political base in her South Side Beverly neighborhood.

Here are the key numbers as of Dec. 31, 2015 from new Federal Election Commission reports:

DEMOCRATS

Rep.Tammy Duckworth D-Ill., who lives in Hoffman Estates

Receipts: $5,707,884

Candidate Loans: $0

Expenditures $2,014,525

Cash-on-hand $3,653,135

Andrea Zopp

Receipts: $1,425,062

Candidate Loans: $47,414

Expenditures: $692,634

Cash-on-hand: $714,063