AIPAC, Crypto, And DraftKings Are Buying Illinois' Elections—Is Your State Next?

A case study of the Illinois Primary Election on March 17

The Illinois primary election is on March 17. And what happens in Illinois sets a blueprint for the rest of the nation. We cannot afford to miss this moment.

In Illinois we are witnessing a textbook example of how corporate money, often aligned with Trump and MAGA extremists, is undermining our entire democracy. In particular, AIPAC, Crypto money, and the sports betting industry are shelling out tens of millions of dollars to buy our primary elections. If they succeed here, they will no doubt expand their corrupting influence into the 45 states that have not yet had primary elections. Here’s what you need to know, and what we need to do to stop these corrupt industries in their tracks. Let’s Address This.

Image source: Tony Dejak/Associated Press

AIPAC

AIPAC—the well funded pro-Israel lobby—has burned tens of millions of dollars in the Illinois House primary. In a moment I share a case study of Illinois House District 9. But please know that we are witnessing a broader pattern in which AIPAC and its affiliated political infrastructure are trying to overwhelm local elections with national geopolitical money. The spending in the 9th District is not isolated. AIPAC-aligned spending is also flowing across Illinois congressional races to protect candidates who remain aligned with its policy agenda.

Mayor Daniel Biss of Evanston, Ill., State Senator Laura Fine of Illinois and Kat Abughazaleh last month at Fox Chicago’s debate. Image source: Joshua Lott for The New York Times

• Illinois House District 2: AIPAC is spending absurd resources to prop up right wing corporate Democrat Donna Miller. Miller allegedly claimed she would not take AIPAC money, but then happily accepted their corrupt funds.

• Illinois House District 6: AIPAC is backing corporate Democrat Sean Casten, who has continued to deny genocide in Gaza while funding Netanyahu’s war crimes. If you are in Illinois District 6, vote for the fully people funded candidate Joey Ruzevich.

• Illinois House District 7: AIPAC is spending absurd resources to prop up right wing corporate Democrat Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who was fined $60,000 by an Ethics Board as disciplinary action for misusing taxpayer resources. Now, she refuses to speak to any constituent who so much as asks her about the nearly $3M AIPAC has spent to get her elected. In the 7th District, voters should vote for anti-trust lawyer Reed Showalter, who is running a 100% people-funded campaign.

• Illinois House District 8: AIPAC is spending absurd resources to prop up right wing corporate Democrat Melissa Bean.

• Illinois House District 9: AIPAC is spending absurd resources to prop up Laura Fine, while actively attacking Kat Abughazaleh. (More on this below).

• Illinois House District 10: AIPAC is backing corporate Democrat Brad Schneider, who has continued to deny genocide in Gaza while proudly funding Netanyahu’s war crimes. If you are in Illinois District 10, vote for the fully people funded candidate Morgan Coghill.

• Illinois House District 13: AIPAC is backing incumbent Nikki Budzinski, who denies the Gaza genocide and proudly continues to fund war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. Votes in IL-13 should instead vote for US Army Veteran and former cancer researcher Dylan Blaha.

Watch my interview on the Qasim Rashid Show with Dylan Blaha running for Congress in IL-13.

Let’s talk briefly about the Illinois 9th District Democratic primary. According to available filings, Elect Chicago Women, a PAC backed by AIPAC’s political network, has already spent $2,887,149 supporting Laura Fine. Meanwhile, a deceptively named group called the Chicago Progressive Caucus has spent an additional $389,256 promoting Fine while attacking Kat Abughazaleh.

The substance of that spending is not subtle. Fine has refused to acknowledge the genocide unfolding in Gaza and continues to support U.S. military aid to Israel even as credible international institutions—including the International Court of Justice and major human rights organizations like B’TSalem—have recognized Israel’s actions as genocide. By contrast, Abughazaleh—who is herself half Palestinian—has called for adherence to international law and accountability for war crimes, including the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pursuant to international legal standards. Abughazaleh is the only viable candidate to have the courage to demand justice on this critical issue. And now, with recent polling showing she has is within the margin of error to win this election, AIPAC is spending nearly $1M in new attack ads against her.

When outside organizations spend millions of dollars to elevate one candidate while targeting another for demanding compliance with international law, the issue at stake is not simply campaign strategy.

It is the integrity of democratic self-governance itself.

The pattern is unmistakable. Candidates who rely on grassroots support and who are willing to speak openly about international law and human rights find themselves facing a tidal wave of outside spending designed to bury their campaigns under attack ads. Meanwhile, voters are often misled by PAC names that sound progressive or civic-minded but are in fact vehicles for advancing a narrow geopolitical agenda—in this case, defending Israel’s genocide.

Similar to AIPAC, the Crypto industry is propping up pro MAGA candidates—yes, in the Democratic primary.

Crypto

The Illinois Senate primary is increasingly becoming a case study in how crypto money attempts to capture democratic institutions. The most striking example is the unprecedented spending by Fairshake, a crypto-backed super PAC that has poured $8.2 million into television advertising opposing Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton—the single largest outside expenditure in any race in the country this cycle.

Note, if you haven’t read my takedown of how dangerous Krishnamoorthi will be to the US Senate, bookmark this tab to read it later.

Stratton (L) has called to abolish ICE while Krishnamoorthi (R) voted to praise ICE and demand even more ICE presence in our communities. [Credit: Fox32]

Fairshake is not an ordinary political committee. It is financed by the same crypto billionaires and tech investors who have openly aligned themselves with Donald Trump’s political agenda and who have spent tens of millions nationally to influence elections. Venture capital magnates Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, both of whom endorsed Trump and donated $67 million to Fairshake in 2024, are among its central financial backers. Major crypto firms like Coinbase and Ripple have also contributed tens of millions of dollars to the PAC. Meanwhile, crypto tycoon Donald Wilson has helped fund multiple vehicles supporting Raja Krishnamoorthi, contributing $50,000 to the shell super PAC “Progressive Values Illinois,” $10,000 directly to Krishnamoorthi, and $100,000 to Fairshake itself.

This same Wilson saw the Trump administration’s SEC drop a lawsuit accusing his firm of illegally trading roughly $2 billion in crypto without proper registration, after which his company invested nearly $100 million into Trump’s media venture and accumulated large holdings of the $TRUMP memecoin. When financial actors benefiting from favorable regulatory treatment then pour money into elections, it raises obvious questions about influence and regulatory capture.

If Krishnamoorthi is elected on the shoulders of MAGA Crypto billionaires, you can expect John Fetterman 2.0 because that is who Krishnamoorthi will be beholden to.

Beyond Fairshake’s record-breaking television blitz, other PACs aligned with Raja’s donor ecosystem—including the deceptively named “Progressive Values Illinois” and the Indian American Impact Fund—are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars boosting Krishnamoorthi and shaping the outcome of the primary. This is not grassroots politics. It is a calculated attempt to destroy our democracy. This is the predictable result of a system in which industries facing regulation invest enormous sums into elections in hopes of securing favorable policy outcomes. Illinois voters should reject that corrosive influence. Our democracy should not be auctioned to crypto billionaires seeking looser rules for speculative markets. Elections must belong to voters—not to super PACs funded by individuals whose primary objective is protecting their financial empires.

The Gambling Industry

Finally, the sports betting industry—particularly companies like DraftKings and FanDuel—has begun spending heavily in Illinois legislative primaries through outside political committees. Public reporting reveals where that money is going. The DraftKings-backed PAC has spent:

• $125,000 supporting Saba Haider in the 84th District, who has voted in favor of expanding gambling in Illinois,² against Jared Ploger, an educator, union leader, and former school board member. (More on this race below).

• $263,000 supporting State Senator Emil Jones III, who was indicted in 2022 on federal bribery charges.²

• $220,000 backing incumbent Representative Jaime Andrade Jr. against reform challenger Miguel Alvelo-Rivera.³

• $164,000 supporting Adam Braun, a former lobbyist whose law firm represents DraftKings and FanDuel.²

• $159,000 supporting Aja Kearney in Chicago’s 34th District.²

Corporate-funded political committees do not spend six-figure sums in legislative primaries for entertainment. They spend that money to influence who writes the laws that govern their industries. Last year Illinois lawmakers implemented a new tax on sports betting wagers as part of the state budget. The gambling industry reacted quickly and the Illinois Gaming Board data shows sports betting activity in the state declined by roughly 15 percent year-over-year after the tax was implemented.¹

This is good news for working people. But for gambling companies, a decline of that magnitude directly threatens profit margins. And when powerful industries see politicians threaten their profits, they turn to the same strategy: buying out politicians.

And that’s exactly what they’re trying to do in Illinois.

Reporting by Capitol Fax and other outlets shows that a Super PAC called American Future—bankrolled by DK Crown Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of DraftKings—has become the largest outside spender in Illinois legislative Democratic primaries.² The PAC has already spent approximately $1.2 million supporting candidates who they know will promote their profit margin.²

And who are they opposing? In Illinois District 84, for example, they’re opposing Jared Ploger, an educator, union leader, and former school board member. Ploger built a campaign focused on community engagement, transparency, and accountability. His campaign is supported by educators, working families, and community members who believe government should answer to voters rather than powerful industries.

Instead, his opponent is benefitting from a whopping $125,000 from the sleazy gambling industry. This despite the numerous warnings from public health experts that online sports betting presents significant addiction risks, with gambling disorder now recognized alongside substance-use disorders by major medical authorities. Additional legislative proposals have also been introduced to limit credit card use for sports betting, a policy designed to reduce the risk of financial harm associated with gambling addiction.⁴ Other proposals include limits on sports betting advertisements during live sports broadcasts and restricting promotions on college campuses.⁴

Instead, industry groups representing companies like DraftKings and FanDuel have pushed back against several of these consumer protection proposals—and they’re trying to buy the aforementioned seats to prevent these public health and safety measures from becoming law.

This is yet again why political spending matters. It is literally life and death.

Conclusion

In Illinois we are witnessing a tragedy unfold. When crypto billionaires, gambling corporations, and geopolitical lobbying groups like AIPAC can deceptively pour tens of millions of dollars into a handful of primary races, they are not simply participating in democracy—they are attempting to overwhelm it. It is a warning. And if they succeed here, they will replicate the same strategy nationwide in the remaining 45 primary elections. So whatever state you’re in, it benefits you to pay attention to Illinois and support those candidates running the right way—with people power.

Because money is not the only force that shapes elections. Voters do. Illinois voters still have the power to reject this flood of outside spending and send a message that our democracy cannot be purchased by crypto oligarchs, gambling corporations, or corrupt AIPAC lobbying networks.

So here’s my ask:

1. Support candidates who are funded by people—not by these corrupt PACs.

2. Share this information with your friends and neighbors because corporate media is not going to share this information this clearly with you.

3. And most importantly, show up and vote on or before March 17. Because the future of our democracy will not be decided by billionaires in super PAC boardrooms. It will be decided by whether ordinary people choose to defend it.

And finally, I ask you to invest in Let’s Address This so we can continue to share this critical information that impacts your human rights and our democracy. Subscribe, share, and continue to activate and organize against the powerful billionaire backed influences trying to buy our democracy. For our democracy and republic to survive, the many must overcome the money. Let’s get to work.

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Sources

1. Illinois Gaming Board data reported in coverage of wagering declines following implementation of the Illinois per-bet tax (see reporting via regional outlets including 25News).

2. Reporting on American Future PAC spending and its funding by DraftKings subsidiary DK Crown Holdings: Capitol Fax, Isabel’s Afternoon Roundup (March 2026).

3. Coverage of DraftKings and FanDuel political spending in Illinois legislative races: In These Times, DraftKings and FanDuel are spending millions in Illinois primaries.

4. Policy debates and regulatory responses surrounding sports betting advertising and consumer protections: reporting on gambling regulation proposals and sportsbook responses including surcharge policies by DraftKings and FanDuel (Sports Business Journal, The Telegraph, and related regulatory coverage).