Casten, Underwood lead GOP rivals in campaign funds

Freshmen Democratic Reps. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and Lauren Underwood of Naperville outraised their GOP rivals in the second quarter of this year, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Casten and Underwood, whose election helped flip the House to Democrats, are major Republican targets for defeat in 2020.

So far in the 6th Congressional District, only Casten and former Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti, a Wheaton Republican, are running, though former state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, several sources said, has been weighing a bid. Ives declined to return multiple calls and emails.

Sanguinetti served under former Gov. Bruce Rauner, who Ives worked overtime to defeat. If Sanguinetti and Ives face off, it could be a fight all over again between the factions that played out in Rauner's failed re-election bid: the GOP, pro-Trump, more conservative forces - that's Ives - versus the more centrist conservatives, Sanguinetti.

In a bit of a preemptive strike against Ives, Sanguinetti released the names of 40 Republicans who back her, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger; former Sen. Mark Kirk; former Rep. Judy Biggert; former Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood; DuPage County Board Chair Dan Cronin; and a group of GOP township committeemen, all influential in a Republican primary.

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