Mayor Brandon Johnson spent more than three times the amount of money than he brought into his campaign coffers from July to September this year, according to new campaign filings.
That leaves the freshman incumbent with just $379,471 in the bank — yet another indication of Johnson’s serious struggle to raise money for the uphill reelection battle he announced last month.
In July, Johnson’s political checking account dropped to $631,309, down from $813,125 in the first quarter of this year.
Johnson brought in $122,980 from July to September. The majority of his contributions are donations of $500 or less from individuals. The largest single donation he received was $10,000. The second was $5,000 from Mary Gardner, a prominent West Side organizer who Johnson recently nominated for appointment to the Chicago Housing Authority board.
Johnson’s cash continues to pale in comparison to the $19 million of his top opponent, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. However, the mayor said he remains confident in his reelection campaign at an unrelated news conference Friday.
“I’m not a millionaire. I don’t have millionaire friends. That’s not who I am. I’m a working class former public school teacher,” he said. “I’m confident that we’ll have the resources that are needed to tell our story.”
Giannoulias’ largest single donation was $250,000 from Matthew Pritzker, the governor’s cousin, who with his sister, sued the family for a share of its Hyatt Hotels fortune, according to Forbes. His net worth is roughly $2.3 billion. The majority of Giannoulias’ individual contributions are donations of $1,000 or more.
After spending just $106,000 in the second quarter of this year, Giannoulias started spending big from July to September. He spent $5.7 million — nearly double what he raised in the same time frame — largely on paid media, a category made up mostly of TV commercials.
Trailing Giannoulias is lobbyist John Kelly with $2.5 million; state Comptroller Susana Mendoza with $1.7 million; and businessman Joe Holberg with $1.06 million in the bank.
Kelly raised $544,750; Mendoza raised $276,931; and Holberg brought in $154,643 — including a $100,000 loan.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, Chicago Housing Authority commissioner Matt Brewer, attorney Bill Quinlan, Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas and Willie Wilson all trail Johnson in the amount of cash on hand as of Sept. 30.
Of those trailing Johnson, though, Brewer was able to raise the most money in the third quarter, raking in $402,237 in individual contributions. He spent nearly two-thirds of that.
Johnson spent about $12 million on his 2023 win. Increased name recognition and incumbency mean he might not need that much this time around. But political strategists say he will need a lot more to run television ads, which, despite changing media habits, are still a staple in a winning campaign.
Johnson spent most of his money on field consulting to help build his ground game, a winning strategy for him in 2023. He had a vast army of volunteers knocking on doors and held regular “house parties” to spread his message and energize voters.
He’s expected to try to replicate that this time around and tap social media influencers to re-create that grassroots approach in the digital space. He spent around $25,000 on digital media production or ads.
Many expect Johnson’s campaign coffers to eventually balloon with help from the Chicago Teachers Union and its affiliates. The CTU is preoccupied with the races for the first-ever fully elected school board which take place Nov. 3.