Oak Park’s Don Harmon has become well known over the past two decades as a visible and accessible state senator locally and a task-oriented type of legislative leader in Springfield.
After his election in November 2002, Harmon immediately stepped up and took on the sort of responsibilities few other legislators either would or could handle, establishing his reputation among Democratic leadership as a workhorse.
In a 2004 piece in Crain’s Chicago Business, columnist Greg Hinz noted freshmen state senators are not generally known for “…handling complex, controversial legislation that reaches across the political aisle.” But Harmon, Hinz said, “is not turning out to be your typical state senator.”
Now the Senate President, Harmon plays a major and very public role in the state’s governance from January through May and during fall veto sessions.
What may not be as widely appreciated by many in the public is Harmon’s role as a major fundraiser and someone who controls and directs an effective political campaign designed to benefit his fellow state senators through the Illinois Senate Democratic Fund.
While political operations are lower key in odd numbered, so-called “off-years,” a spotlight was thrown on that part of Harmon’s job description earlier this year after a media inquiry resulted in Illinois State Board of Elections staff ultimately ruling that Harmon’s fundraising practices had violated state election law.
Harmon faced a total of $9.8 million in forfeitures and fines but appealed. The state election board eventually deadlocked last month along partisan lines, rendering no decision on whether or not to impose any penalties.
Harmon is clearly ready to move into a new year, telling constituents in a recent letter that “…this matter is closed.”
Harmon had wanted to be on the influential Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) from the 7th Congressional district but will not after ceding the seat to House Speaker Chris Welch, who will face Oak Park Township Supervisor Tim Thomas on the March primary ballot.
But Harmon will still wield political power similar to that of the party’s central committee, recruiting candidates and supporting incumbents through money, operational resources and staffing from the senate campaign fund.
Lost in the controversy and drama of Harmon’s legal tussle with the state elections board is the fact that Harmon hasn’t needed a full war chest since the conclusion of the 2006 general election, when he defeated the only GOP opponent he’s ever faced. He’s defeated the only two Democratic primary challengers he’s had over the past 23 years by 2-to-1 margins.
The money that flows to Friends of Don Harmon for State Senate pays for his local political staff, with the vast majority of the balance going to support fellow Democrats, not his re-election.
Harmon is one of two men who solicit and direct funding to Democratic Party operations, the other being Welch. Gov. JB Pritzker also contributes millions through his campaign fund. The three have provided the bulk of funding to the Democratic Party of Illinois’s campaign coffers.
The DPI in turn covers much of the expense related to producing and delivering political mailers to voters. Harmon’s senate campaign fund and Welch’s Democrats for the Illinois House take responsibility for state senate candidates and House candidate campaigns, respectively.
The steady stream of cash flowing into Friends of Don Harmon pays for a 15-person senate campaign fund staff of mostly veteran personnel, which assists as many Democratic State Senate candidates as needed in any election cycle. Between payroll, taxes and healthcare costs, the staff costs approximately $1.75 million annually.
Since mid-2022, that fund has also spent a total of $2.8 million on research and polling.
Harmon, like Welch in the House, is also able to dispatch experienced campaign staffers to any given senate contest as needed, providing savvy political operatives who can hit the ground running. Besides salaries, there are expenses including lodging, food, transportation and mileage that are covered by Harmon through the campaign fund.
Due to the way elections are scheduled for Illinois state senate seats over 10-year cycles, there will be twice as many seats up for election next year as there were in 2024, and therefore, more expenses.
In 2024, Friends of Don Harmon took in $9.7 million and expended $7.2 million, ending the year with $13,385,464 on hand.
In 2022, the fund took in $11.2 million and spent $16.76 million, spending more in the last six months of that year than he would in all of 2024.
Harmon had only one potentially vulnerable senate seat to worry about last year — the 40th district in the south suburbs. Next year there will be at least one vulnerable Democratic seat and as many as four GOP seats that will likely be targeted for flipping.
Among the state senate races expected to be highly contested is the 26th district in Lake County, the 33rd district out west by Geneva, the 48th district around Springfield, the 56th district downstate, and possibly the 24th district around Carol Stream and Bartlett.
All together those races could drain between $12 million and $15 million from Democratic coffers, and Harmon’s mountain of cash in his two accounts — approximately $19 million as of the end of November — could look more like a mole hill by next October.
Those wondering how far Harmon will go to defend a vulnerable contested seat need only consider the 2024 general election for the 40th Senate district.
By early October 2024, challenger Philip Nagel had received $470,000 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund and $208,000 total from other Republican Party sources, considerable money by GOP standards.
Harmon responded by transferring $2.3 million from senate campaign fund to Patrick Joyce between Oct. 1 and Oct. 23, plus an additional $103,774 in “in-kind” media production, allowing Joyce to pay for a flood of television ads.
The GOP pulled the plug on Nagel’s campaign two weeks before election day.
The post Harmon’s other Democratic Party role will be on full display in ‘26 appeared first on Wednesday Journal.
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December 2, 2025 at 11:43AM
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