Pritzker has supplied $10 million of his super PAC’s $10.9 million as it targets 10 House Republicans

By Graham Ostrander

WASHINGTON — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has given $10 million to Ready for the Fight, the super PAC his political team launched in September, accounting for about 92 cents of every dollar the group has raised, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The group has reported $7.1 million in independent expenditures, all of it opposing 10 Republican House candidates.

The figures come from the committee’s third-quarter report and its pre-general report, filed Thursday and covering Oct. 1 to Oct. 14. Pritzker’s two checks — $5 million on Sept. 14 and $5 million on Oct. 2 — went into the committee’s non-contribution account, the account a hybrid PAC uses for unlimited contributions that can fund independent expenditures but not direct contributions to candidates. The filings list his employer as the State of Illinois and his occupation as governor.

The PAC is one of the clearest records yet of how Pritzker, who is seeking a third term as governor on Nov. 3 and is widely discussed as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is using his personal fortune on the national stage. When the group launched in early September, it said Pritzker would serve as honorary chair and pledged at least $20 million, Capitol News Illinois reported. The name is taken from the question Pritzker has used to close his speeches since 2017: “Are you ready for the fight?”

The money in

Other donors have given about $915,000, the filings show — $237,000 in itemized gifts and $678,000 in contributions of $200 or less, which committees are not required to itemize. Nearly all of the itemized gifts arrived through ActBlue, the Democratic donation platform. The largest itemized individual gifts in the October report were $5,000 each.

The committee has also spent heavily to raise that money. In September it paid Liftoff Campaigns LLC, a Silver Spring, Md., firm, two payments of $500,000 each, on Sept. 22 and Sept. 30, for “digital fundraising services,” according to the third-quarter report. That $1 million is about equal to everything the PAC has raised from donors other than Pritzker. The filings do not show what the payments bought, and spending on list-building and digital ads aimed at donors often produces returns over a longer period than a few weeks.

Other September payments included $100,000 to Agency for Civic Engagement, of Portland, Ore., for “research consulting,” and staff salaries paid through the payroll firm Gusto. In October, the PAC gave $200,000 to Workers Vote, a New York-based political committee, from its non-contribution account on Oct. 14.

The money out

Every independent expenditure the PAC has reported so far opposes a Republican. The Inquisitor totaled the itemized Schedule E entries in both reports by candidate.

The spending only partly tracks the launch announcement. The PAC said in September that it would place early reservations against Miller and Herrera, describing them as “the worst of the worst MAGA Republicans.” The $1.47 million against Miller, all reported in September, was the group’s only independent expenditure in the third quarter. Herrera, running in Texas’ 23rd District, has drawn $454,000 so far, sixth on the list.

In the first two weeks of October, the PAC moved into nine new districts, led by $1.54 million against Greg Cunningham in New Mexico’s 2nd and $1.04 million against Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, in Arkansas’ 2nd. A 24-hour report filed Oct. 17 shows a further $53,804 against Marques in Alabama, bringing the group’s spending against him to $908,172.

Several of the districts overlap with the official party committees’ spending. In New Mexico’s 2nd, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee itemized $0.63 million in coordinated spending for Rep. Gabe Vasquez in the same two weeks, while the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $0.50 million for Cunningham. In Michigan’s 10th and Virginia’s 1st, the NRCC outspent the DCCC in coordinated spending — $1.32 million to $0.82 million for Bouchard’s race and $1.15 million to $0.62 million for Wittman’s — so Ready for the Fight’s spending narrowed the Republican edge. (The Inquisitor’s district-by-district analysis of the party committees’ reports runs today.)

All of the group’s ad spending has been paid from the non-contribution account — every Schedule E entry in both reports is labeled “Non-Contribution Account: Media Buy” or “Non-Contribution Account: Media Production.” That account has been funded almost entirely by Pritzker: the filings show $10,005,700 in non-contribution-account receipts through Oct. 14, of which $10 million came from the governor. Under FEC rules for hybrid PACs, money in the contribution account, which is subject to the $5,000-per-year limit, may be given directly to candidates; money in the non-contribution account may not.

Ready for the Fight registered with the FEC on Sept. 7, according to its committee record. Its treasurer is Jeremy Begun, and it lists a mailing address on Pennsylvania Avenue SE in Washington. It files quarterly, which is why its October activity appears in a pre-general report rather than a monthly one.

Who made the ads

The independent expenditures went to a short list of Democratic media firms. Gambit Strategies of Bethesda, Md., received $2.23 million; Canal Partners Media $2.01 million; Grassroots Media LLC of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., $1.97 million, including the September buy against Miller; and Waterfront Strategies of St. Louis $0.65 million. Smaller amounts went to Compel Media, Technicolor Political and MPWR Media Strategies. Gambit, Compel and MPWR are also listed on Schedule D as owed a combined $149,000 for media production at the end of the October period.

How it fits

Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, has long been one of the largest individual donors in Democratic politics. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he founded Think Big America, a nonprofit that backed abortion-rights ballot measures. Ready for the Fight is different in kind: as a super PAC, it must disclose its donors and report its spending to the FEC, and it may spend unlimited sums to support or oppose candidates so long as it does not coordinate with them.

Pritzker told Capitol News Illinois in September that he wanted to help in districts rated “R+5 or R+7” that might swing to Democrats given the national mood, and that the PAC could also play in more competitive seats. He has framed his national activity as being about Illinois’ interests in Washington, citing cuts to federal food aid, Medicaid and disaster aid.

The filings show the group is still well short of the $20 million pledge. With $2.45 million in cash on Oct. 14 and spending running at more than $2.5 million a week in early October, the PAC would need new money to keep up that pace through Election Day. Pritzker’s next contributions, and the group’s spending in the final 20 days, will appear in 24-hour reports and in a post-general report due Dec. 3.

Pritzker is one of several Democrats whose names come up in early 2028 polling. He has not said whether he will run. His gubernatorial campaign committee reported spending more than $12.4 million on television ads from July through September, Capitol News Illinois reported Oct. 16, in a race against Republican Darren Bailey.

The Inquisitor sent requests for comment early Friday to Ready for the Fight at the address listed on its FEC registration; to Pritzker’s campaign; and to the campaigns of Miller, Hill and Cunningham, asking about the group’s spending plans, the fundraising payments and the ads. None had responded by publication. This story will be updated with any response.

Photo: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks with reporters in October 2025. Paul Goyette / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.