The Illinois State Board of Elections deadlocked Tuesday on whether to slap a nearly $10 million fine on Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s political committee for allegedly accepting donations beyond campaign financing limits.
The eight-member panel, evenly split along party lines, couldn’t even decide whether their agency has officially issued the fine that is being appealed by the powerhouse Oak Park Democrat, whose election board case is likely to end up in Cook County Circuit Court.
The board agreed to return next month to try again for a resolution in Harmon’s legal fight over how and when campaign contribution limits apply to big-money Illinois campaigns.
Staffers for the election board fined the Friends of Don Harmon for State Senate committee earlier this year for allegedly violating state law with the amount of campaign cash it accepted after the March 2024 primary election. The Chicago Tribune first raised questions about Harmon’s fundraising.
The law limits campaign contributions in a race unless caps are lifted when a candidate declares as “self-funded” by putting more than $100,000 into their committee during an election cycle. Ostensibly intended to allow regular-Joe candidates to solicit contributions to keep up with deep-pocketed millionaires, lifting caps can open the floodgates to outside campaign cash.
The point of contention in Harmon’s case is when one election cycle ends and another begins.
Harmon put $100,001 in his campaign fund in January 2023 to lift the contribution caps. He wasn’t up for election in the 2024 primary — state Senate terms are staggered between four- and two-year terms — but as the chief fundraiser for his colleagues in the Democratic supermajority, Harmon regularly transfers money to other candidates.
After the primary, Harmon’s campaign continued accepting large contributions totaling more than $4 million by the end of 2024 — all of it illegal, according to election board staffers, who argue the contribution cap was back in place between the primary and the general election in November.
But Harmon’s attorney, Michael Kasper, argues that since Harmon wasn’t on the ballot last year, the contribution caps remain lifted heading into the March 17, 2026, primary, when Harmon is up for reelection.
Election board staffers issued a $9.8 million fine to Harmon’s committee, a recommendation that a hearing officer agreed with last week.
During a lengthy board meeting in the Loop, Kasper said their interpretation of the law treats state House members, who serve two-year terms, differently from senators.
“If that’s the result, it’s a dumb result. This is dumb,” said Kasper, who has represented many of the most powerful Illinois Democrats in election matters over the years, including former House Speaker Michael Madigan and former 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke.
The four Democrats on the board voted to reject the hearing officer’s recommended penalty for Harmon, while the four Republicans voted to accept it.
The sides disagreed on whether the deadlock defaults to Harmon being on the hook for the fine, and they eventually pushed the matter to the board’s Nov. 18 meeting.
“If we adopted the [Harmon] committee’s interpretation of this, it would create chaos,” Republican board member Catherine McCrory said. “It would create chaos not only for the candidate to interpret that, but it would create chaos for our organization to try and determine whether somebody is in violation or in compliance with that.”
Democratic board member Jennifer Ballard Croft said interpreting the law against Harmon “creates unfair and inconsistent outcomes. It undermines the legislation’s intent to level the playing field between both the incumbents and less-resourced challengers.”
The proposed fine would eat up most of the $16.5 million Harmon had in his main political committee fund entering this month. He also controls two other funds — one for his bid for a state central committee post and another supporting Senate Democrats — that add up to roughly an additional $2 million.
Harmon, who hasn’t faced a primary or general election challenger in the last decade, deposited $100,001 in his account to lift the contribution cap ahead of the upcoming primary.