2026 race

IL-13 — U.S. House

2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Nikki Budzinski.

Read the record. Not the rhetoric.

See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.

DeepSyte tracks the money and the record in every race against the issues you care about — not party, not press releases. Take the 2-minute values quiz to see your alignment.

How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Democratic primary · Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Called by audit: web-verified
Nikki BudzinskiWon77.0%
  • DDylan Thomas BlahaDefeated23.0%
Republican primary · Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Called by audit: web-verified
Jeff WilsonWon67.3%
  • RJoshua LoydDefeated32.7%
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.

Disclosed money in race
$4.4M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent

Currently in office

Challengers

Sorted by fundraising

Jeff Wilson

R
ChallengerFEC H6IL13154

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Raised this cycle$532K
Cash on hand: $48K
2 defeated candidates — show

Dylan Thomas Blaha

DDefeated
ChallengerFEC H6IL13162

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Raised this cycle$106K
Cash on hand: $994

Joshua Loyd

RDefeated
ChallengerFEC H4IL13241

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Raised this cycle$17K
Cash on hand: $0
Local signal

Early read on IL-13 — 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.
Nikki Budzinskileans positive
1 pos2 neutral0 neg3 articles
Jeff Wilsonlimited 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
$4.4M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$4.3M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$84K
$84K for · $0 against
CandidateRaised directlyOutside forOutside againstNet in corner
Nikki Budzinski(D)incumbent
+ PROTECT PROGRESS $84K
$3.7M$84K—$3.7M
Jeff Wilson(R)
$532K——$532K
2 defeated candidates — show finances
CandidateRaised directlyOutside forOutside againstNet in corner
Dylan Thomas Blaha(D)defeated
$106K——$106K
Joshua Loyd(R)defeated
$17K——$17K
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.

Nikki Budzinski(D)53% in-state · $1.6M itemized
$822K in-state$734K out-of-state
Jeff Wilson(R)96% in-state · $50K itemized
$48K in-state$2K out-of-state
2 defeated candidates — show
Dylan Thomas Blaha(D)defeated60% in-state · $40K itemized
$24K in-state$16K out-of-state
Joshua Loyd(R)defeated48% in-state · $10K itemized
$5K in-state$5K 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.

StatementBudzinskiWilsonYou
Abortion
A national law should protect access to abortion in every state.
—
Agriculture
SNAP (food stamp) eligibility and benefit levels should be expanded.
—
Labor
Federal labor law should make it easier for workers to form unions (PRO Act-style reforms).
—
Social Security
Future workers should have to wait longer to collect full Social Security.
—
Veterans
The VA should cover more veterans and more health conditions.
—

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.