Laura Fine launches TV ad in bid for 9th congressional seat

Congressional candidate Laura Fine on Tuesday announced her first TV commercial for her 9th District campaign — and the story it tells is a very personal one.

The 30-second advertisement, called “Accident,” focuses on the 2010 car crash that seriously injured Fine’s husband, Michael. As Fine explains in the spot, which features footage from an NBC 5 news report about the crash, she fought back when a medical insurance company tried to cancel his policy.

Now a state senator for the 9th District, Fine was Northfield Township clerk at the time of the crash. She has said the ensuing fight over health insurance was a catalyst for her legislative career, which began in the state House in 2013 and moved to the Senate in 2019.

In the ad, Fine says she’s pushed legislation “to stop health insurance rip-offs.” She pledges to “never back down” in Congress.

The commercial will run this week on broadcast TV and cable channels and on digital services, Team Fine said. It’s a $340,000 ad buy, the campaign said.

The commercial also is available on YouTube.

Fine is among 17 Democrats running to replace U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat who isn’t seeking reelection after more than 25 years on Capitol Hill. Other Democratic candidates include former internet personality Kat Abughazaleh of Chicago, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Mike Simmons of Chicago and state Rep. Hoan Huynh of Chicago.

Four candidates are running for the Republican nomination.

Abughazaleh is the only other candidate to put an ad on TV, doing so on cable channels last month.

The 9th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. Illinois’ primary election is March 17.

Bean has an ad, too

Elsewhere, Barrington Democrat Melissa Bean has launched her first professionally produced video ad in the race for Illinois’ 8th Congressional District seat.

Bean is trying to recapture the post she held for three terms before losing it to Republican Joe Walsh in 2010.

In the 30-second commercial, called “Courage,” Bean says she lost to Walsh because she supported the Affordable Care Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in March 2010.

After showing a photograph of Bean and Obama in the Oval Office, the ad cuts to shots of President Donald Trump as Bean criticizes Trump and his fellow Republicans for their policies and votes regarding health care, Social Security and Medicare.

Bean then targets Democrats, saying they “need to stop whining and start winning again, with common sense problem solving.”

The commercial will run over the next 10 weeks on video streaming services, the Bean campaign said. It’s also available on YouTube. The Bean campaign wouldn’t disclose the cost of the ad buy.

Bean is among eight Democrats vying to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, who’s giving up the seat to run for U.S. Senate. Others include Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison of Mount Prospect and Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Bankole.

Four Republicans are running, too.

• Political Roundabout is an occasional column on campaign, legislative and political news with a suburban focus.