Pollak touts big 3rd-quarter fundraising gains

Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Joel Pollak raised more money in the in third quarter than Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky, yet the newcomer lags far behind his incumbent opponent in overall campaign contributions and spending.

Third-quarter campaign finance reports show Pollak raised $274,384 from July 1 through Sept. 30, compared to Schakowsky's $146,491. But Pollak has only $2,710 cash on hand to Schakowsky's $483,763, according to the third-quarter report.

Pollak still is happy to raise more money than Schakowsky at least in one quarter.

“It's significant because when we started this race we never expected to outraise her by a 2-to-1 margin,” said the Skokie attorney and former Democrat turned tea party candidate. “There's never been a Republican challenger, in the last 15 years at least, in a so-called safe Democratic district that has outraised the incumbent by that kind of margin.”

Pollak said he never expected to match Schakowsky's overall fundraising.

“The incumbents almost always outspend the challengers, even when the challengers are successful,” he said.

Schakowsky, an Evanston resident who is running for her seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives, was unfazed by Pollak's third-quarter gains saying, “$2,700 is not a lot of money.”

“One would think he is saving up for the final push,” she added.

Schakowsky said she was surprised by how much Pollak has spent a little over $500,000 to her roughly $1.3 million. But she is confident she has an edge over him.

“We have enough money to carry out our activities, which are planned for the last two weeks of the campaign,” she said. “I'm going to be communicating heavily with voters, and we're going to have an unparalleled field operation.”

Pollak said much of his donor base is small businesses and people who align with his pro-Israel policies. All but $2,600 of the money raised by Pollak in the third quarter came from individual donors, disclosure reports show.

Schakowsky said a large number of her donors are women, labor unions, Jewish groups and people who support progressive policies on abortion rights, immigration reform and health care.

Pollak said he will be focusing mainly on television advertisements in the last few weeks of the campaign.

“I feel very confident that we have a good chance of winning,” Pollak said. “Obviously, we still have a long way to go.”

Schakowsky wouldn't say what her strategy will be in the campaign's closing weeks but said she is not letting up on fundraising efforts.

“I'm going to be raising money until the very end,” she said. “My polling, which is significantly different from his polling, indicates a very clear victory. But as always we are taking nothing for granted and continue to campaign vigorously.”

The 9th Congressional District spans from the North Side of Chicago and North Shore suburbs west to include Des Plaines and Rosemont.