With just seven weeks left until primary election day, both candidates seeking to replace retiring 47th State Rep. Amy Grant — Republican Robert Vrankovich and Democrat Erica Bray-Parker — have been busy with the sort of political groundwork needed to produce a strong showing March 17.

Meanwhile, fundraising has been subdued, as would be expected in a primary where neither candidate faces a challenger from their own party. Also to be expected is that any fundraising status quo will change markedly once the primary concludes. 

Democrats have had the 47th House seat in their crosshairs for at least six years, and will spend heavily to flip it. In 2024 they came up short by a mere half point, just 292 votes. Republicans, already chafing at super minority status will almost certainly expend relatively major resources to keep the seat red. 

Campaigns are won with a combination of money, volunteers and organization, and the Vrankovich campaign has been busy with grassroots, face-to-face politicking. Since the new year, he has met with the mayors of Carol Stream, Wheaton, and Naperville, and has additional meetings scheduled. On Jan. 11 he was canvassing in Naperville and has been soliciting volunteers to knock on doors in Naperville the afternoon of Jan. 31. 

Bray-Parker has been out in recent weeks throughout DuPage and elsewhere in the 47th District, including canvassing and meeting with township political leaders. Like Vrankovich, Bray-Parker will be out on Jan. 31, focused on DuPage on its “Day of Action,” door knocking, making phone calls and writing postcards. 

The House Republican Organization spent more than $4,600 on Vrankovich’s campaign last quarter, including sending field manager Jack La Morte, an HRO staffer, to work with him part-time since October; La Morte began working full-time for the HRO in August. GOP leadership also spent $1,500 on a second part time staffer. 

While the HRO expenditure is small potatoes comparatively, according to state records that $4,600 nearly a year out from the general election is nearly four times the $1,200 the Grant campaign spent on staff through her entire 2024 race.

Bray-Parker, a sitting second-term Wheaton City Councilwoman and a 29-year resident of Wheaton, has been a public school educator for 33 years, and will retire after this school year.

Bray-Parker had a lead on Vrankovich to start fourth-quarter fundraising, with $28,220 on hand. She took in another $23,454 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, $9,500 of it from several well-funded unions. She started the new year with $41,855 banked.

Her campaign has spent more than $10,000 so far, $4,400 of it for consulting with Joseph Valliquette, who worked briefly for Democrats for the Illinois House in 2024. Valliquette is familiar with the 47th District’s political terrain, having worked on the nearly victorious 2024 campaign of Jackie Williamson, who ran against Grant. 

The 47th district contains several communities in DuPage County, including Naperville, Warrenville, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Lisle, Carol Stream, Bartlett, West Chicago, Winfield, and Wayne.

With neither Democrat Bray-Parker nor Republican Vrankovich facing a challenger in the March 17 primary, both parties are free to focus on the general election. 

Vrankovich, of Carol Stream, who owns a propane company, touches on all of the standard GOP talking points, saying that state Democrats are “making life unaffordable for families across Illinois,” and that he’s “running to change that.”

Vrankovich says he is “determined, practical, and results driven.” He’ll need that attitude going against an exceedingly well-funded Democratic machine. Vrankovich started in October with zero dollars and took in a modest $14,909, including a $7,989 loan from himself. He started 2026 with just over $14,000 banked.