CHICAGO – The race for the next governor of Illinois is also a battle between billionaires, including two whose names will not appear in Tuesday’s primary vote.
Republican candidates Darren Bailey, who as a U.S. lawmaker is fighting pandemic measures such as mask mandates, and former Attorney Richard Irwin, the first black mayor of Chicago’s largest suburb, each have a benefactor who has imposed a different vision for the Republican Party. has invested his money behind him.
The results will start to be shown after the election closes at 7 p.m.
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Businessmen billionaires Ken Griffin and Richard Wichline – among the country’s largest Republican donors – have invested more than $ 60 million in the race. Griffin supports Irwin and Wyhline supports Bailey.
Meanwhile, billionaire Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, along with the Association of Democratic Governors, spent millions trying to ensure that Irwin, an army veteran and mayor of Aurora, was not nominated by the Republican Party.
The money funded a long month of commercials that attacked Irwin and supported Bailey, whom Pritzker would prefer to face in November. The ads point to Bailey’s sharp far-right positions, including “100% for life” and his allegiance to former President Donald Trump – qualities that could help Bailey run in the Republican primary but be responsible for a general election in a state. Trump twice lost by a two-digit number. Trump backed him at a rally in Mendon on Saturday night.
Governor Pritzker, who is fighting against West Side native Beverly Miles, joined his vice governor on Tuesday, congratulating voters across Chicago.
Pritzker and Duckworth will hold a joint party to watch the results
Governor Pritzker, who is fighting against West Side native Beverly Miles, joined his vice governor on Tuesday, congratulating voters across Chicago.
They started at a stop on 95th Street Red Line, the scene of the shooting last month.
None of the candidates spoke about the violence in the city, but rather focused on the recent abolition of abortion rights, as well as LGTBQ rights and civil rights.
The governor and first lady of Illinois will join Senator Tammy Duckworth on Tuesday night at the Marriott Marquis in South Loop.
The governor is already looking at the by-elections.
“I feel great about our prospects in November and I’m excited to stand up to these Trump-backed Republicans and defeat them,” Pritzker said.
Gov. Darren Bailey was in lower Louisville on Tuesday to cast his vote.
U.S. Sen. Darren Bailey is at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Effingham, which will serve as his campaign headquarters.
The latest poll shows that Bailey has a 15-point lead in the Republican primary, and he received a big boost over the weekend when he was approved on stage by former President Donald Trump during a rally in the lower part of the state.
While Trump’s approval will certainly help him among Illinois Republicans, Democrats will certainly use him against him if he wins the primary and faces Governor Pritzker.
“It’s a two-step dance to be elected. It’s great to win the primary, but if you can’t win the general election, then it’s all in vain,” said former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar.
While rich men in politics are certainly not uncommon, there may never have been a battle of billions to match that of a state election, especially a primary election. It remained Irwin, once considered a favorite, to fight to convince Republican voters that he was the only one who could defeat Pritzker.
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“JB Pritzker tells you that every time he runs an ad. He tells you, “This is the person I’m most afraid of,” Irwin said during a stop at a factory in Illinois.
Irwin also voted at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Aurora on Tuesday.
He was thought to be the favorite, but dropped out of the polls about a month ago.
Irwin’s fall could be a record that is significantly more moderate than that of his GOP rivals. Unlike Bailey and the other four men in the race, Irwin avoids saying whether he voted for Trump or talking much about issues such as abortion, instead focusing on steps he would take to reduce crime and taxes. He was criticized for saying “Black people’s lives are important” during protests against police brutality that has become destructive in his hometown, after which he shot a TV commercial saying “All lives matter.”
Irwin is preparing for the results of the Republican primary race
In the western suburbs, candidate Richard Irwin cast his vote at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Aurora.
Bailey has built a three-year reputation in the legislature as an uncompromising conservative who is not afraid to take on people.
“People say that JB Pritzker wants me to win this primary because he believes I’m the easiest opponent to win,” Bailey said during a campaign stoppage at a restaurant. “Well, I have news for JB Pritzker: Be careful what you wish for because it’s coming. Friends, we’ll win on November 8.”
Bailey, a rural farmer from Xenia, jumped on stage across the state in the summer of 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he filed a lawsuit against Pritzker over an order to stay home issued by the governor for delay. of virus transmission. Bailey was seen by supporters as unusual when he was escorted from the legislature hall for refusing to wear a mask in opposition to Democratic leaders. His supporters like the fact that he often talks about his faith. Bailey, who speaks with a prairie sound, ends his almost daily online video messages with a prayer.
“He is a pious man. He is not afraid to expose his faith there,” said 63-year-old Springfield supporter Ruth Bast.
The three billionaires – Pritzker, Griffin and Wheeline – have a long history of political clashes in Illinois and elsewhere.
Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund company Citadel, is a staunch critic of the Pritzker administration, especially on the issue of crime in Chicago. In addition to the $ 50 million he gave Irwin for this cycle, he also spent millions to help elect former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2014 and the loss of Rauner to Pritzker in 2018. He funded a successful campaign for blocking Pritzker and other Democrats from changing Illinois’ tax structure to impose more on high-income earners.
In 2020, Griffin donated $ 37 million to the campaign in the Republican Senate, making him the second-largest individual donor to the PAC, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending.
Asked at a forum last year if he would support Trump if he ran for president in 2024, Griffin said: “I think it’s time for America to move forward,” adding that Trump was a “meaningless division.”
Some worry that Darren Bailey is too conservative to beat Pritzker
Polls suggest Darren Bailey, 56, is leading a group of Republicans who want to run for governor JB Pritzker in this fall’s general election – and Bailey received a big boost over the weekend when former President Donald Trump backed him at a rally in the lower part of the state.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Griffin criticized Pritzker for “interfering” in the Republican primary, saying that “spending tens of millions of dollars in agreements with his friends, attacking the most successful black political leader in Illinois, is disgusting.” Pritzker defended his actions, saying that an advertisement attacking Irwin was “telling the truth.”
Uihlein, founder of office supply company Uline Inc., is a major supporter of Trump who has a long history of donating to far-right candidates and groups. This includes the PAC and people who strongly oppose abortion, as well as the House Freedom Fund, which supports the most conservative candidates and the strongest supporters of Trump.
Other candidates seeking the GOP nomination include businessman Gary Rabin, venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan, former state senator Paul Schimpf and lawyer Max Solomon. Pritzker’s only opponent in the Democratic primary is Beverly Miles.
Sullivan holds his Election Night party in St. Petersburg, Illinois, the brewing company of the hand of fate.t starts at 7 p.m.
Surveys show he is in second place on Tuesday night.
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