Jim Oberweis starts 2026 with nearly $3M cash on hand for CD 19 race

Republican Jim Oberweis closed 2025 with nearly $3 million in the bank as he runs to succeed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds.

The former Illinois lawmaker, the first Republican to file after Donalds launched his bid for Governor, continues to largely self-fund his campaign. He loaned the campaign another $600,000 in the last quarter of the year, and has put down $3.1 million in total.

But he also reported more than $48,000 in outside contributions to the campaign.

Since entering the race, Oberweis has been the cash leader in Florida’s 19th Congressional District.

The former Illinois state Senator brings significant personal wealth to the race as former Chair of Oberweis Dairy. He now lives in Bonita Springs. But from his time in Illinois, he has experience running for federal office. He was the Republican nominee challenging U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in 2014, and he ran in 2020 in a closely watched battleground House race before losing narrowly to now-U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Democrat.

Fundraising reports show he has seen financial contributions flow in from both Florida and Illinois. From up north, he reported a $3,500 donation from John O’Donnell, director of the John Buck Company in Chicago, while David Riley, of the Middleby Corp., gave more than $1,000 in the quarter. Gerilyn Alfe, owner of Chicago-based Get Ahead Inc., also gave $500.

But a bulk of contributions came from Southwest Florida’s wealthy retiree community, including $3,500 contributions from Gerald Kostner of Naples, Kathleen Mattar of Bonita Springs and Douglas Perks of Naples. Mary Swift of Connecticut also cut a $3,500 check.

Oberweis has already shown a willingness to spend the money he put in out-of-pocket. While total outside contributions to the race near $198,000, he has spent nearly $408,000, including more than $134,000 the last three months of the year.

As 2026 kicked off, that left Oberweis with $2.94 million on hand.

He is the first of 10 Republicans running in CD 19 to report his end-of-year financial report. Other Republicans in the race include former U.S. Reps. Chris Collins and Madison Cawthorn, Sun Broadcasting President Jim Schwartzel, conservative writer Catalina Lauf, philanthropist Ola Hawatmeh, Marine  veteran Mike Pedersen, MAGA activist Johnny Fratto, business owner Dylan Modarelli and Stephen Elliot.