Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s victory on Tuesday in the Democratic primary for Senate in Illinois put the nation on a path to having three Black women serving together in the chamber for the first time in American history.
Ms. Stratton, who received heavy financial backing from Gov. JB Pritzker, finished ahead of Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly. The three-way Senate primary was the marquee contest on a night with an unusually large number of open-seat Democratic House primaries as the party grapples with its identity in the Trump era.
And with so many seats up for grabs, it was no surprise that special interests took a special interest in what happened.
More than $32 million in outside spending poured into four Chicago-area House contests, a tidal wave of cash led by groups tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the crypto sector and the artificial intelligence industry.
AIPAC and the A.I. industry wound up with split decisions. The crypto-backed candidates mostly lost. And progressives failed to build momentum early in midterm primary season.
Here are four takeaways from primary night in Illinois:
Stratton is likely to make history.
Ms. Stratton’s victory showed the enduring power and sway that Mr. Pritzker — and his wallet — hold in Illinois.
A super PAC funded by the governor spent $12 million helping his No. 2, vaulting her past Mr. Krishnamoorthi, even though the congressman had spent years amassing a nearly $20 million war chest.
Ms. Stratton, 60, is now the heavy favorite to win in November, which would make her the third Black woman in the Senate, joining Senators Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Ms. Stratton would replace Senator Richard J. Durbin, who is retiring.
She was able to overcome late efforts by allies of Mr. Krishnamoorthi to split the Black vote. A super PAC funded by crypto interests, for instance, spent $10 million, including on some late ads on Black radio stations not just attacking Ms. Stratton but promoting Ms. Kelly, who is also Black and who had the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The contest had turned less on ideology than on identity, and a battle over who was financing each side. Ms. Stratton campaigned on the idea of “abolish ICE” while Mr. Krishnamoorthi modulated slightly to “abolish Trump’s ICE.”
Ultimately, Ms. Stratton capitalized on a huge opportunity: The race was the lone open Senate primary this year for a deep-blue seat.
AIPAC got its first big victories of 2026 — and a tough loss.
No group dominated the political conversation before the Illinois primaries more than AIPAC.
The pro-Israel lobby disguised some of its spending through new super PACs with innocuous and unrelated names — Elect Chicago Women and Chicago Progressive Partnership — and acknowledged its quasi-hidden hand only after the results were in.
All told, AIPAC-linked groups spent roughly $20 million in four House races, winning two and losing two.
AIPAC found success supporting Melissa Bean, a moderate former House member who won a primary against Junaid Ahmed, a progressive challenger, and it also backed Donna Miller, a Cook County commissioner who prevailed in a different district. Super PACs tied to AIPAC spent $8.4 million combined on those races.
But believe it or not, AIPAC-linked groups spent even more in the races they lost, laying out the most money in Illinois’s Ninth District.
In that race, the groups spent $4.4 million to support Laura Fine, a state senator, who finished in third place. They also spent $1.4 million opposing Daniel Biss, the Evanston mayor, and $1.2 million opposing a third candidate, Kat Abughazaleh, an outspoken Israel critic. One of the AIPAC-linked groups even made a last-minute gambit to promote a fourth candidate, Bushra Amiwala, who the group said after the election was “anti-Israel,” seemingly to siphon votes from Ms. Abughazaleh.
Mr. Biss won, and addressed AIPAC directly in his victory speech. “The Ninth District is not for sale,” he said.
And in the Seventh District, AIPAC’s main super PAC spent $5 million supporting Melissa Conyears-Ervin, the city treasurer of Chicago, who lost to La Shawn K. Ford, a state representative.
The Illinois elections were especially freighted for AIPAC after the group face-planted in a New Jersey special election last month, spending heavily to stop a moderate former congressman from winning and instead winding up with a pro-Palestinian progressive nominee, Analilia Mejia.
A progressive push for House seats mostly flopped.
After that New Jersey special election and Zohran Mamdani’s victory last year in the New York City mayoral race, many progressives entered congressional primary season with dreams of flexing their political muscle and pushing the Democratic Party further to the left.
That did not happen on Tuesday in Illinois.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus’s political arm had endorsed four candidates, but only one, Mr. Biss, prevailed. Both of the candidates backed by Justice Democrats, the left-wing group that has toppled past moderate Democratic incumbents, lost. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont had endorsed two candidates. Neither won.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who had campaigned in Illinois, had more success. She had supported two winning candidates, Ms. Stratton and Mr. Biss, though a third candidate she had endorsed, Robert Peters, a state senator, finished a distant third in the state’s Second District.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bean’s victory sets up the likely return of a moderate former Blue Dog Democrat to the House.
The evening was far from a wipeout for the left. In addition to Mr. Biss’s victory, Ms. Abughazaleh, an outspoken progressive, finished second behind him. But the left could hardly claim the results as a mandate, or even as momentum.
Big money talked. Voters listened (sometimes).
For the A.I. industry, the crypto sector and AIPAC, the four open House races in Illinois offered a chance to not only reshape the Democratic Party heading into 2027 but also set the tone for the rest of the 2026 primaries. Collectively, the main political groups for those interests entered the year with roughly $340 million to spend.
Some candidates did everything they could to advertise that they wanted that cash, with winking posts about their devotion to the blockchain (a crypto signal) or beating China in the A.I. race (a message to A.I. super PACs).
The results on Tuesday were mixed.
The crypto sector lost three of the four races it spent heavily in, including the Senate primary, where the industry plunged $10 million into supporting Mr. Krishnamoorthi. The group had spent another nearly $2.5 million opposing Mr. Ford, who had backed regulations that the industry had opposed. He won his House primary anyway. The lone victory came for the candidate on whom A.I., AIPAC and crypto were all aligned in supporting: Ms. Bean.
The leading A.I. super PAC spent $1.4 million to promote the comeback attempt of Jesse Jackson Jr., who went to prison after his last stint in Congress. He lost on Tuesday. The industry spent another $1.1 million for Ms. Bean, who won.
Of course, one of the evening’s top winners was Mr. Pritzker, the billionaire governor who is one of his party’s biggest financiers nationwide and who spent heavily to try to send his lieutenant governor to the Senate.
Shane Goldmacher is a Times national political correspondent.
The post Stratton Wins and AIPAC’s Power Is Tested: 4 Illinois Takeaways appeared first on New York Times.
