The race for the 112th House District between incumbent Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville) and Republican challenger Dwight Kay of Glen Carbon has tightened - with internal polling showing Kay taking a two-point lead, up from a four-point deficit in polling conducted last week.
And, recent campaign financing of both candidates shows an intensifying contest.
Kay, who had served three terms as representative of the district until 2016, raised more money in the last 10 days - $168,526 - than he did in the third quarter - $144,721.
By comparison, Stuart, who unseated Kay in the 2016 election, raised $234,804 last week and $664,985 in the third quarter.
Who's funding the million dollar-plus contest for a House seat that pays a base salary of $67,836?
In the third quarter, Stuart received big donations from labor groups and other Democrat candidate committees, as well as staffing from the Democratic Party of Illinois. In the last week, nearly $90,000 came from Chicago personal injury firms in bundles of $11,100 - Corboy & Demetrio, Cogan & Power, Romanucci & Blandin LLC, Hurley McKenna & Mertz P.C., Myers & Flowers LLC, Cavanagh Law Group, Wise Morrisey Kaveny and Levin & Perconti.
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association PAC contributed $1,500; the Workers Compensation Lawyers Association contributed $1,000.
For Kay, his biggest contributions in the third quarter came from the House Republican Organization, Illinois Republican Party, Illinois Opportunity Project, Illinois Chamber PAC, NFIB-Illinois Safe Trust, accounting for $114.000 of the total.
Chicago businessman and Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein contributed $5,600; the Workers' Compensation Law Association contributed $2,000.