Some contests have drawn heavy spending.
Voters in California could fill a vacant House seat Tuesday, while elections in Illinois and Ohio will pick nominees for another empty seat, decide the fates of challenged incumbents and set matchups for fall battleground races.
Some contests have drawn heavy spending, including one where three candidates have each already loaned their campaigns more than $2 million. Another has been fueled by lingering bitterness between two House Republicans from last year’s battles over making former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy the House speaker.
There are also many districts in which one party is heavily favored and there’s no real contest. In a year that has seen more resignations and retirements than average, each of the 17 incumbents in Illinois is running for reelection, and 11 of them, including 10 of the 14 Democrats, are unopposed in their party primaries. In Ohio, all of the five Democratic incumbents are unopposed in the primary, as are five of the eight Republican incumbents running.
Here’s a look at eight races in the three states that are worth watching on Tuesday.
Republican Rep. Mike Bost and Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis each face competitive challenges in Illinois.
In Chicago, 82-year-old Davis is seeking the Democratic nomination to a 15th term against four challengers.
City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin raised $183,000 more than Davis since the cycle began, reports filed to the Federal Election Commission show. And through Feb. 28, Conyears-Ervin spent $523,000 to the incumbent’s $497,000. But she has faced ethics allegations tied to her role as treasurer, and Davis has survived challenges before, including in 2022 when gun violence prevention advocate Kina Collins came within 6 percentage points of beating him. Collins is running againn but she raised just $72,000 through Feb. 28, and a pro-Israel super PAC spent $494,000 on ads and direct mail opposing her.
Davis’ 7th District backed President Joe Biden over Donald Trump by 73 points in 2020, and the race in November is rated “Solid Democratic” by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.
In southern Illinois, a Republican battle is playing out in the 12th District, where Trump beat Biden by 43 points and the November race is rated “Solid Republican.”
Bost’s campaign spent nearly $1.4 million from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28 as he seeks a sixth term. Running against him for the nomination is former state Sen. Darren Bailey, the state’s 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee.
Bailey’s spending during through Feb. 28 was just $192,000, but he has the backing of one of the conservative base’s high-wattage personalities, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz. During the intraparty battles over making and then replacing McCarthy as speaker, Bost shouted at Gaetz on the House floor in January and reportedly lunged at him during a closed conference in October.
“I’m trying to change Congress, and we can’t do it with the people we have there now,” Gaetz told WSIL News at a campaign event for Bailey in February. “Mike Bost gets angry and yells at me because I make things difficult for some of the established interests in Washington, D.C.”
Through Feb. 28, Bailey had self-funded $205,000 of the $505,000 he had raised, and since the month started, he’s put an extra $105,000 of his own money into the race, late filings show.
