Mike Bost
RIncumbentFEC H4IL12060
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Raised this cycle$1.6M
Cash on hand: $845K
2026 race
IL-12 — U.S. House
2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Mike Bost.
Read the record. Not the rhetoric.
See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.
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How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$1.8M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent
Currently in office
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
Julie Fortier
DChallengerFEC H6IL12131
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Raised this cycle$162K
Cash on hand: $34K
1 defeated candidate — show
Michael Eugene Tabacchi
RDefeatedChallengerFEC H6IL12123
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Raised this cycle$9K
Cash on hand: $0
Local signal
Early read on IL-12 — U.S. House
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Mike Bostleans negative
0 pos2 neutral1 neg3 articles
Julie Fortierlimited coverage
No coverage in our tracked outlets in the last 90 days.
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle
Total disclosed
$1.8M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$1.8M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$10
$10 for · $0 against
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Bost(R)incumbent | $1.6M | — | — | $1.6M |
Julie Fortier(D) + SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION $10 | $162K | $10 | — | $162K |
1 defeated candidate — show finances
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Michael Eugene Tabacchi(R)defeated | $9K | — | — | $9K |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside IL versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
Mike Bost(R)64% in-state · $468K itemized
$302K in-state$166K out-of-state
Julie Fortier(D)97% in-state · $67K itemized
$65K in-state$2K out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
Where they stand
Issue-by-issue comparison
Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.
| Statement | Bost | Fortier | You |
|---|---|---|---|
Abortion A national law should protect access to abortion in every state. | — | ||
Abortion Each state should set its own abortion laws. | — | ||
Economy Tariffs on foreign goods should be used to protect American jobs. | — | ||
Education Parents should be able to use public funds — through vouchers — to send their kids to private or charter schools. | — | ||
Environment The government should set legally enforceable limits on greenhouse gas emissions. | — | ||
Foreign Policy The U.S. should spend more on the military. | — | ||
Guns All gun sales — including private ones — should require a background check. | — | ||
Guns Federal law should authorize court-issued red-flag orders allowing temporary firearm removal from people deemed a danger. | — | ||
Healthcare The government should provide healthcare for everyone. | — | ||
Labor Federal labor law should make it easier for workers to form unions (PRO Act-style reforms). | — | ||
Governance & Other Outside political spending — from PACs and super PACs — should be limited more strictly. | — | ||
Veterans The VA should cover more veterans and more health conditions. | — | ||
Veterans Veterans should be able to use VA benefits at any doctor, not just VA hospitals. | — |
SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.