h/t Daily opinion contributor Talia Winiarsky, who doesn't appear to be on Bluesky!
06.03.2026 18:25
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h/t Daily opinion contributor Talia Winiarsky, who doesn't appear to be on Bluesky!
![From: Daniel Biss via JStreetPAC
Subject: They’re spending $5 million to stop me
Dear Talia,
Let me start with something my opponent still hasn’t done: Telling voters who’s supporting my campaign.
I’m Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston running to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, and JStreetPAC is backing me. They believe, as I do, that supporting Israeli security and supporting Palestinian rights are not contradictory – they go hand in hand.
That position shouldn’t be controversial. But apparently, for AIPAC, it is.
Now, they’re opposing me to send a message: Anyone who openly criticizes the far-right Israeli government – no matter what it does – can be pushed out of Democratic politics.
Meanwhile, my opponent Laura Fine’s campaign is being boosted by a network of AIPAC-affiliated outside groups that refuse to tell voters where their money comes from.
A new New York Times report this week confirmed that groups tied to AIPAC have already spent at least $10 million trying to influence several Democratic primaries in the Chicago area, including more than $5 million in this race alone.
My opponent won’t tell you who supports her.
Well, here’s who supports me: People who fight for diplomacy, human rights and a real path to peace.
If you believe that voice shouldn’t be drowned out by millions in outside spending, I’m asking for your help today. Can you chip in to help us fight back?
[Donate button]
This race will say a lot about the kind of politics that wins in the Democratic Party. Will outside money enforce ideological purity – or will voters decide for themselves?
I’m betting on the voters.
Thanks for standing with me.
— Daniel Biss
[In small text:] Paid for by JStreetPAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nq4bzx4cjci66z7532r7y3zm/bafkreibqj4uadjz5bjyeskx4mkuuqshaydhlvzavivdvvw2gojc7uohypa@jpeg)
From: Daniel Biss via JStreetPAC Subject: They’re spending $5 million to stop me Dear Talia, Let me start with something my opponent still hasn’t done: Telling voters who’s supporting my campaign. I’m Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston running to represent Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, and JStreetPAC is backing me. They believe, as I do, that supporting Israeli security and supporting Palestinian rights are not contradictory – they go hand in hand. That position shouldn’t be controversial. But apparently, for AIPAC, it is. Now, they’re opposing me to send a message: Anyone who openly criticizes the far-right Israeli government – no matter what it does – can be pushed out of Democratic politics. Meanwhile, my opponent Laura Fine’s campaign is being boosted by a network of AIPAC-affiliated outside groups that refuse to tell voters where their money comes from. A new New York Times report this week confirmed that groups tied to AIPAC have already spent at least $10 million trying to influence several Democratic primaries in the Chicago area, including more than $5 million in this race alone. My opponent won’t tell you who supports her. Well, here’s who supports me: People who fight for diplomacy, human rights and a real path to peace. If you believe that voice shouldn’t be drowned out by millions in outside spending, I’m asking for your help today. Can you chip in to help us fight back? [Donate button] This race will say a lot about the kind of politics that wins in the Democratic Party. Will outside money enforce ideological purity – or will voters decide for themselves? I’m betting on the voters. Thanks for standing with me. — Daniel Biss [In small text:] Paid for by JStreetPAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
A J Street PAC fundraising email sent ~25 minutes ago claims to be from Daniel Biss, both in the "From" line and repeatedly in the email body.
Then, in a small text box at the bottom: "Paid for by JStreetPAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."
New from me on "Chicago Progressive Partnership" and their (rather poor) attack on @katmabu.bsky.social; the org's AIPAC ties; and who they're targeting with the slop campaign.
dailynorthwestern.com/2026/03/03/c...
A separate AIPAC-linked (in bold) group is set to target progressive activist Kat Abughazaleh, who predicts the Iran strikes will dominate the campaign’s closing stretch. “We will be talking about it very vocally and often because this is very much a topic on people’s minds,” she told your Playbook host.
No direct comment so my copyeditors don't get mad at me pre-pub, but here's @shiakapos.bsky.social today in Playbook:
Ads Transparency: adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/A...
The "Chicago Progressive Partnership" 30s attack ad on @katmabu.bsky.social, which is limited to YouTube and has instructions to only air to 18-34yos, is out.
In @thedailynu.bsky.social soon.
AIPAC-backed Chicago Progressive Partnership ads attacking Abughazaleh have not dropped yet, in my review of Google, Meta, and X's ad libraries and broadcast + cable filings.
Personally anticipating YouTube ads here.
disclosure for IL-13 mailers — $41,930.17
CBS 2 contact for March 10 to March 17
Crypto lobby: Fairshake-affiliated super PAC Protect Progress is wading their way into Illinois congressional races.
On the 25th, $42k for Budzinski in an utterly unpacked IL-13 race.
And on the 26th, a huge media buy in IL-08 for the week before the primary.
Hey, I wrote this piece. You did not miss it.
@alexhairysun.bsky.social is amazing — Daily alum as well! — and I would have linked if possible, but it's general newsroom policy (at the moment) to not link to sites besides our own. I believe it's been that way for a while now. Not really sure why.
bsky.app/profile/thed...
New analysis of this poll @thedailynu.bsky.social: The most interesting part of this poll is the crosstabs.
For instance: Abughazaleh is successfully targeting younger voters and Fine/Biss are successfully targeting older voters. But 3 in 10 respondents aged 46 to 65 remain undecided.
Didn't expect the phone buy!
docquery.fec.gov/pdf/830/2026...
Filed literally five minutes ago.
AIPAC-backed super PAC ECW spent the following on their Biss attack ad:
- $16.5k on ad production
- $628.8k on media buy
They also spent $38.4k on anti-Biss phone advertising.
Elect Chicago Women a few hours late on their 48-hour reports again. Expecting it later today (betw. 5pm and 7pm).
You'll see how much they dropped on this Biss attack ad. I'm expecting ~$25k on production and ~$600k on the media buy.
![The [attack] advertisements have aired on at least NBC 5 Chicago, ABC 7 Chicago and WGN 9, costing ECW at least $366,000. The super PAC has spent more than $2.3 million to date on material in line with the Fine campaign.
[visualization; see link below]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nq4bzx4cjci66z7532r7y3zm/bafkreicvzbzc2yz3txop46ohwklk7ly3nrn35lpcn63emhqtyngtwymrji@jpeg)
The [attack] advertisements have aired on at least NBC 5 Chicago, ABC 7 Chicago and WGN 9, costing ECW at least $366,000. The super PAC has spent more than $2.3 million to date on material in line with the Fine campaign. [visualization; see link below]
New analysis @thedailynu.bsky.social: With attack ads hitting the IL-09 air paid for by Elect Chicago Women, the AIPAC-backed super PAC running in line with the Laura Fine campaign, it's worthwhile to estimate how much dark money they've pumped into this race.
It's more than _$2.3 million._
After four rounds, Adarsh and Sisco achieved victory with 52.9% of the vote. For the first three rounds, they trailed Hu and Cohrs by less than one percentage point, but they received a large number of votes following the third-round elimination of McCormick sophomore Nicholas Johnson and SESP junior Nur Yalinbas. Below is a Sankey diagram showing the vote distribution.
#DataJournalism in @thedailynu.bsky.social today: Ahead of the primary in March, Northwestern held a small, ranked-choice election for our student government president. Its election commissioner shared a wealth of data with me and my colleague Max Turetzky.
We found it was a _competitive_ race.
AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment.
Know anything? r.ottignon@dailynorthwestern.com
# and Signal on request.
“This is the same right-wing dark money machine that has spent years attacking our democracy and propping up January 6 insurrectionists for office,” she wrote. “When they cannot win voters, they try to buy elections through shell PACs with friendly names and undisclosed donors.”
We also asked other campaigns about ECW and their filing lateness. The Biss campaign had nothing more to add, though the Abughazaleh campaign came out swinging.
The ECW 48-hour report
ECW was more than 13 hours late on the filing of its mandatory 48-hour report, by comparison, which discloses independent expenditures (including political advertisements that support candidates like this) greater than $10,000.
Here's that filing: docquery.fec.gov/pdf/137/2026...
A part of that statement compares ECW, a super PAC, to 3.14 Action Fund, a hybrid PAC that has heavily supported the Biss campaign.
The difference, @frankcalabrese.bsky.social told me last night, is that 3.14 Action discloses its donors and mission. "It plays by the rules," he said.
We asked the Fine campaign for a statement on the ECW ads. They sent us an identical statement to the one @mattheweadie.bsky.social received Wednesday.
bsky.app/profile/matt...
When asked about the Manaa-Hoppenworth video, the campaign redirected back to their original statement.
Here's that video:
Fine and Manaa-Hoppenworth
An image in the bottom left of that postcard caused a fair bit of backlash. On the left there is Chicago Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th), who said her photo was used without permission and called for Fine to denounce ECW in an Instagram video.
An ECW postcard supporting Fine
But registered Dems in IL-09 soon showed me mail they'd received, also connected to Elect Chicago Women:
The U contract
FOX 32 agreement
Xfinity + U-verse agreement
This analysis started with FCC records. Along with ABC 7, NBC 5, and CBS 2 — which the ad has been running on — filings show that it will soon run on The U, FOX 32, Xfinity (cable), and U-verse (IPTV).
NEW: Elect Chicago Women, a super PAC which @shiakapos.bsky.social reported is AIPAC-backed, spent more than $570k to support IL-09 candidate Laura Fine, new FEC filing shows:
- 400k for TV
- 51k for mailers
- 100k prob. for YouTube
- 23k for ad production
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Miller:
