Illinois tops nation for public sector union political spending
[December 17, 2025]
By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – Commonwealth Foundation Labor and Policy Senior
Director David Osborne says Chicago’s growing reputation as the place
where public sector unions flex plenty of political muscle is more than
well deserved.
Osborne points to a new Commonwealth Foundation report highlighting how
public sector unions across Illinois spent nearly $30 million on state
races over the 2023-24 election cycle, or far more than what union
officials in any other state dedicated to such causes.
At $5.5 million, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tops the State Government
Union Pac Money List of those most benefiting from government employment
unions support. In addition to Johnson, at least six other state
lawmakers land on the list’s Top 20, lead by House Speaker Emanuel
“Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, at No. 2 and Illinois Senate President Don
Harmon, D-Oak Park, at No. 4.
“In the state of Illinois, political spending is bigger than in any
other state,” Osborne told The Center Square. “Unions seem very focused
on who gets elected to be the mayor of Chicago and governor of the
state. What you've got really is a downward spiral in Illinois where the
kinds of unions that have gotten so powerful have really done it at the
expense of taxpayers and then they're pouring more money into getting
the right kind of people elected for them.”
With researchers adding that almost 96% of all donations for
Illinois-level candidates went to Democrats, Osborne said it’s past time
someone address the imbalance.
“Public sector unions, they're not often talked about as the cause of
problems,” he said. “We often look to high taxes, bigger government,
economic policies, but really what's driving states and cities to enact
policies that are harmful to individuals, that raise taxes, that grow
the size of government beyond its purpose are public sector unions.
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Members of the Chicago Teachers Union gather at the Illinois State
Capitol during a rally, May 15, 2024. Catrina Barker / The Center
Square
He said public sector unions have all the incentive in the world “to
bring in new public employees, to bloat government so that in the
end they can have more members, which means more influence and
power.”
With the system being as broken as he views it, Osborne said there
are few winners in the state.
“Taxpayers are definitely losing under this system, but I also want
to urge the public to understand that teachers and other public
employees who are represented by unions are also losing,” he said.
“I think they've lost their voice. I'm not nearly as concerned about
the dollar amounts as I am the fact it's public sector unions.
Public sector unions represent public employees, and they sit down
and negotiate with the very people that get elected to office to
hash out deals.”
With Commonwealth Foundation researchers arriving at their findings
using publicly available information, data shows Illinois was
followed in union spending by California at $25.8 million,
Washington at $18.6 million, Massachusetts at $17.9 million and
Pennsylvania at $12.8 million.
Overall, researchers found the National Education Association,
American Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International
Union, and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees combined to spend upwards of $915 million on political and
ideological causes with almost all the funding going to left-wing
causes and candidates.
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