Chicago Politics
On My Block · Chicago Politics

Which Chicago alderpersons have the most campaign cash heading into the February 2027 election, and where it came from

The 50 alderpersons' campaign committees held $10.1 million on Sept. 30, 2026. Half of it sat with 10 members; four had less than $10,000.

By Chicago PoliticsUpdated

The City of Chicago seal in the City Council chamber, before the Council's Oct. 14, 2026 meeting
The City of Chicago seal in the City Council chamber, before the Council's Oct. 14, 2026 meetingCity of Chicago video

With every Chicago City Council seat on the ballot on Feb. 23, 2027, the campaign committees tied to the 50 current alderpersons held $10,091,857.45 at the end of September 2026, according to their latest quarterly reports to the Illinois State Board of Elections. The money is unevenly spread. The 10 members with the most held half of it, $5.1 million. The median member had $148,132. Four had less than $10,000.

Cash on hand is what a campaign can spend now. It doesn't count money a member will raise before February, and some members have spent heavily this term already.

Who has the most?

Cash on hand on Sept. 30, 2026, summed across every committee our data ties to the member:

  1. Ald. William Conway (34th Ward): $1,091,967.38. His committee, New Day Bill Conway, has raised $1,868,440.14 in itemized contributions this term. Conway is its largest contributor: $680,100 from Conway himself since 2019, including a $500,000 loan recorded June 30, 2026.
  2. Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th Ward): $619,106.31.
  3. Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward): $569,953.74, across three committees, including The New 27th Ward Democratic Party.
  4. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward): $544,319.70.
  5. Ald. Peter Chico (10th Ward): $470,772.14, across two committees.
  6. Ald. Timothy Knudsen (43rd Ward): $376,339.96.
  7. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward): $366,996.93. Reilly has raised more than any other member this term, $4,794,987.77 in itemized contributions, but his committee's cash fell from $1,270,565.06 at the end of 2025 to $184,576 at the end of March 2026.
  8. Ald. Matthew Martin (47th Ward): $361,597.32.
  9. Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward): $355,038.41.
  10. Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward): $343,441.20, across two committees.

Itemized contributions to each alderperson's committees since 2019, top 15

Reilly, BrendanReilly, Brendan: $6,202,071$6,202,071Conway, WilliamConway, William: $2,520,425$2,520,425Villegas, GilbertVillegas, Gilbert: $2,242,382$2,242,382Burnett, Walter R.Burnett, Walter R.: $2,157,533$2,157,533Hopkins, BrianHopkins, Brian: $2,054,394$2,054,394Dowell, PatDowell, Pat: $1,900,711$1,900,711Ervin, Jason C.Ervin, Jason C.: $1,868,027$1,868,027O'Shea, Matthew J.O'Shea, Matthew J.: $1,628,171$1,628,171Lee, Nicole T.Lee, Nicole T.: $1,462,724$1,462,724Knudsen, Timothy R.Knudsen, Timothy R.: $1,455,780$1,455,780Nugent, SamanthaNugent, Samantha: $1,385,479$1,385,479Quinn, MartyQuinn, Marty: $1,343,164$1,343,164Lopez, Raymond A.Lopez, Raymond A.: $1,279,884$1,279,884Silverstein, Debra L.Silverstein, Debra L.: $1,258,177$1,258,177Robinson, Lamont J.Robinson, Lamont J.: $1,251,197$1,251,197

Source: ISBE + Board of Ethics · as of Oct 21, 2026

Contributions of $150 or more since Jan. 1, 2019, as of the page view. This is money raised, not cash on hand. Source: Illinois State Board of Elections.

Money near a vote isn’t evidence of influence. Sources: ISBE and Board of Ethics, matched by name.

Lobbyists' own contributions count under every client they represent.

Who has the least?

  • Ald. William Hall (6th Ward): $921.52.
  • Ald. Angela Clay (46th Ward): $1,022.60.
  • Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward): $5,370.06. Her committee reported a negative balance at the end of 2025 and in March 2026.
  • Ald. Byron Sigcho-López (25th Ward): $8,133.94. He raised $39,162.22 in the third quarter of 2026.
  • Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward): $15,159.50.

For each of these five, at least two of their three largest donors since 2019 are SEIU or Chicago Teachers Union political committees.

Where does the money come from?

Our data can answer three questions about it, each with limits.

Chicago or not. For the median member, 71% of itemized contributions since 2019 came from donors with Chicago addresses. The lowest shares were for Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward), 38.8%; Ald. Derrick Curtis (18th Ward), 46.0%; Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward), 55.6%; Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward), 55.9%; and Ald. Marty Quinn (13th Ward), 56.1%. Contributions from political committees count by the committee's address.

In the ward or not. We can't place donors inside ward lines, because we don't publish or map donors' street addresses. As an approximation, we count money from ZIP codes that cover at least 5% of the ward. By that measure the median member got 23.7% from their ward's ZIP codes. The highest shares were for Waguespack (47.6%), Martin (42.9%), Reilly (41.0%), Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th Ward, 39.8%) and Ald. Nicole Lee (11th Ward, 37.5%). The lowest were Curtis (2.5%), Tabares (2.8%), Conway (5.3%), Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7th Ward, 7.6%) and Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward, 8.9%). ZIP codes cross ward lines, so these are estimates in both directions.

Lobbyists. Registered lobbyists reported $2,783,517.28 in contributions to the 50 current members since 2019 to the City's Board of Ethics. The most went to Hopkins ($165,339.96), Reilly ($147,223.60), Ald. Matthew O'Shea (19th Ward, $138,746.48), Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward, $138,498.18), Burnett ($134,147.21) and Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th Ward, $103,908.28). For Hopkins that is about 8% of his itemized contributions over the same period; for Reilly, about 2%.

How we did it

The figures come from the Illinois State Board of Elections' campaign disclosure data and the Board of Ethics' lobbyist data, as copied into our data on Oct. 17, 2026. Cash on hand is the sum of each committee's ending funds on its latest quarterly report. Itemized contributions are those of $150 or more. Matching a committee, donor or lobbyist to a member is done by name and can be wrong. The script, `tools/on-my-block/stories/s9_cash.py`, recomputes every number; its cash figures match our Money page.

What it means on your block

Cash on hand is one sign of how a race may look in your ward, not a forecast. Your alderperson's money, quarter by quarter, with their largest donors, is on their ward page under Money: start from the wards list. Candidates who aren't in office yet file with the same State Board, which publishes their reports too.