State Sen. Laura Fine (9th District) and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss lead the field running for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District in finances while fellow frontrunner Kat Abughazaleh lags behind after spending big in late 2025, according to new disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Saturday was the deadline for all federal candidates to file year-end disclosure reports with the FEC, which provided fresh details on raising and spending for October, November and December 2025. In the the previous reports covering up to Sept. 30, 2025, Abughazaleh and Biss led with nearly identical war chests of just over $1 million each, while Fine had less than $500,000.
Per the latest disclosures however, that story was flipped by the end of 2025. Fine entered 2026 with the most cash on hand at $1.44 million after raising over $1.26 million in the fourth quarter, over 90% of which came from donors outside Illinois. Nearly 30% came from California alone, where the board president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reportedly held an in-person fundraiser for Fine among other efforts to support her campaign without explicitly endorsing her.
Just behind her is Biss, who reported a $1.38 million war chest and over $583,000 in individual donations, three-quarters of which came from Illinois donors and $50,954 of which came in a bundle raised by JStreetPAC, which has endorsed him. Similar to earlier quarters, he also received about $44,600 from other supportive candidates and political groups, including $10,000 from the Progressive Turnout Project and $5,000 from the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.
See below for summary figures for each candidate who has filed at time of writing, ordered from most to least cash on hand and linked to their FEC reports.
| Candidate | Cash on hand 01/01 | Q4 received | Q4 spent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laura Fine (D) | $1,439,970.16 | $1,260,674.83 | $299,902.49 |
| Daniel Biss (D) | $1,376,304.57 | $658,644.06 | $292,607.21 |
| Phil Andrew (D) | $961,413.60 | $484,751.70 | $171,076.21 |
| Kat Abughazaleh (D) | $810,953.01 | $1,180,446.37 | $1,381,768.64 |
| Hoan Huynh (D) | $737,781.12 | $639,118.00 | $99,989.91 |
| Jeff Cohen (D) | $552,795.17 | $336,098.00 | $179,780.04 |
| Bushra Amiwala (D) | $501,619.14 | $293,825.06 | $270,365.72 |
| Sam Polan (D) | $139,240.04 | $18,651.53 | $185,881.28 |
| Mike Simmons (D) | $135,151.55 | $113,186.42 | $112,686.13 |
| Nick Pyati (D) | $59,487.81 | $9,060.32 | $106,221.39 |
| Howard Rosenblum (D) | $36,844.95 | $54,232.00 | $66,564.84 |
| Mark Su (R) | $7,839.04 | $4,339.00 | $4,817.31 |
| Paul Friedman (R) | $2,700.00 | $2,700.00 | $0.00 |
| Justin Ford (D) | -$817.36 | $2,011.13 | $3,186.34 |
While Abughazaleh raised the second-most last quarter at $1.18 million, nearly two-thirds of which came from small donors giving less than $200, this haul was wiped out by spending $1.38 million over the same period, over four times more than any other candidate. This was driven by spending $475,000 on her two digital ad buys, $339,000 on fundraising consultants, $95,000 on management consulting from former campaign manager Sam Weinberg, and nearly $88,000 on salaries for other campaign staff.
Meanwhile, several candidates around Abughazaleh in cash totals are boosting their campaign coffers by loaning themselves large amounts of money: economist Jeff Cohen has given himself $500,000, former FBI agent Phil Andrew has given $400,000, and state Rep. Hoan Huynh has given $200,000. The largest self-loan of the race was $800,000 from Bruce Leon, Chicago’s 50th Ward Democratic Committeeman who dropped out in mid-January and endorsed Andrew.
Financial strength entering 2026 could be a make-or-break factor for the candidates, as ad campaigns across TV, social media, mailers and more ramp up significantly ahead of Election Day on March 17. Most leading candidates are already airing video ads across platforms, while red boxing and outside spending from super PACs is already underway.
Red boxing is a campaign tactic where candidates and independent groups that support them tacitly coordinate ad campaigns. The practice is closely associated with super PACs, or “independent expenditure committees,” which are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing candidates, but are legally barred from directly communicating with candidates about messaging, medium and other details.
The last financial disclosures before the election will come through the FEC’s pre-primary reports, which cover candidates’ fundraising and spending between Jan. 1 and Feb. 25 and are due by March 5. Contributions to most super PACs, however, went dark from Sunday until after Election Day, opening the potential for “pop-up” groups to spend big on the race without disclosing their donors until after voting ends.
Voting will begin with mail ballots being sent out starting Feb. 5, and early voting at the Robert Crown Community Center will start March 2.
Fine and Biss lead in cash, Abughazaleh raised and spent big entering 2026, disclosures show is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston’s most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.
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February 1, 2026 at 06:16PM
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