Campaign notebook: Quarterly campaign reports for 37th state senate race

Notices about public campaign appearances in the Sauk Valley should be sent to news@saukvalley.com.

The news and notes will run periodically during the election season.

37th Senate primary financials

In the 37th District state senate Republican primary, challenger Brett Nicklaus of Dixon spent most of his available funds to get his campaign up and running while incumbent Win Stoller seeded other campaigns with $44,190 and still maintained a sizable cash balance.

The information comes from the quarterly reports of campaign contributions and expenditures that the campaign organizations of both candidates filed in early April with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Nicklaus for Senate reported $3,227.42 cash on hand at the end of March having launched the campaign from scratch on Feb. 7 and making a $5,000 personal loan. Subsequently, the campaign received $3,350 in individual donations and a $10,321.46 contribution from McCombie for Illinois.

Nicklaus spent $7,339.14 with Victory Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa, for signs, consulting, printing, palm cards and setting up a campaign website.

Friends of Win Stoller reported $323,689.57 in available cash. There were $25,300 in itemized individual contributions, including $5,000 receipts from five different contributors. Stoller also seeded the campaign with a $20,000 personal loan. Stoller then received $5,000 from Citizens for Unes and $1,250 from Illinois Merchants, a political action committee.

Some of Stoller’s largest expenditures were for consulting: $7,500 to Steven Shearer of Peoria, $6,250 to Karen Disharoon of Dunlap, $4,000 to Goliath Slayer Communications of Geneseo and $200 to Entzminger Consulting of Edwards. Another $941.52 went to marketing on Facebook.

Stoller supported nine other Republican entities, either campaigns or party committees. This included $5,000 for Citizens for Arellano, the campaign of Dixon Mayor Li Arellano Jr. who is running for state representative in the 74th District.

Stoller also sent $10,000 for the campaign of Dennis Tipsword, the Woodford County deputy sheriff making a bid for the statehouse in the 105th District, $20,000 for the statehouse campaign of Travis Weaver, the son of former state Sen. Chuck Weaver and $5,000 for the Senate Republican Victory Fund. Another $500 went to the Bureau County Republican Women so it could hold a Lincoln Day dinner and $400 went to the Whiteside County Republican Central Committee in Sterling.

Endorsement for Logemann

Jonathan Logemann, running for the Democratic nomination for the 17th District Congressional race, received an endorsement from the Illinois AFL-CIO, which represents 120,000 workers in the district.

“I’m grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from organized labor groups in my campaign and am thrilled to have earned the endorsement of Illinois AFL-CIO,” Logemann said in a news release.

Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea said that Logemann “has shown us that he understands our priorities and will be an advocate for the common goal of economic security and a fair economy that works for all.”

Logemann has also received endorsements from Northwestern Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council, Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, UA Local 23, LiUNA Local 32, IUOE Local 150, SMART Local 219, and Iron Workers Local 498. Rockford City Council aldermen Jenessa Wilkins, Karen Hoffman and Bill Rose have also endorsed his candidacy.

Equality Illinois endorsement

State Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ was among a slate of candidates, most of them Democrats, endorsed by Equality Illinois, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group. Frerichs is being challenged by Republican state Rep. Tom Demmer of Dixon in the general election.

Announcements

Karla Niemann, candidate for judge in the 15th Circuit will attend a meeting of the Ogle County Democrats, 6:30 p.m. May 3 at Oregon VFW Post 8739, 1310 W. Washington St., Oregon. The public is welcome to attend.