Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker helped bankroll, to the tune of $7 million, the campaigns for House Democrats who won big enough to give powerful Speaker Michael Madigan even more muscle in Springfield, according to state election records.

That’s a fraction of the $170 million-plus that Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel chain, pumped into his own campaign. But the $7 million was a healthy cut of the money spent on House races, and it helped, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.

“It was probably a third of what was spent” on House races, Brown said. “We had a broad array of candidates — very good candidates — up and down the state and it helped up and down the state.”

“You had this constant array of smears from the Rauner people and all their different allies, and you had to combat that,” Madigan said, referring to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who along with other Republicans painted the longtime speaker as the poster child for the state’s troubles.