Illinois Senate Primary
There are ten Democrats running in the Illinois Senate Primary. But only three have much of a chance at all of winning. They're the top fundraisers. Raja has a crypto-funded PAC backing both him and Kelly by running anti-Stratton ads. The PAC doesn't want Kelly to win—they want her to split the vote for Stratton enough to give Raja the advantage. The ads are full of lies.
Everything about this situation should be illegal, in my opinion. Who are the other 7 candidates?? I haven't heard one iota from any of them! There should be a legal requirement of equal exposure, or something, I dunno. It sucks that the candidates with the most financial backing have the best exposure. I want to know what the little guy thinks, too! And I have a pretty good feeling that at least one of those 7 little guys line up with my values sensibilities quite nicely!
You need resources to run a campaign, I understand. But damn, dude! You shouldn't have to earn the approval of millionaires and billionaires to get in front of enough every-day Americans to win a race! The money the big donors raise don't just serve to lift their campaigns up, they also serve to drown the others out. How's that for democracy, eh?
The ads are also ridiculous. They're wasteful. I don't need a plastic-cardboard postcard that barely fits in my mailbox to tell me lies about Stratton working for ICE. There's such a barrage of political ads during election seasons, it throws people into a daze. You don't know what to believe, so you end up believing none of it. Admittedly, though, you do occasionally you come across a gem, like the one Kat Abughazaleh aired as a hilarious attack against herself (narrated by voice actor Matt Mercer).
"Kat believes you deserve universal health care, groceries, and housing. Where does she think we are? The richest country on Earth?"
(God I hope she wins her seat. I wish SO MUCH that I could vote for her! She seems to have a people's campaign figured the hell out—hopefully it works.)
Anyway, sigh here we are again, another election year where I make the same gripes about the same systems which do nothing to amend themselves because they're working precisely as intended, even as they eat themselves alive. We need more Kats running.