Rauner pledges to unite Republicans after defeating Ives in Republican primary

“I don’t know what people expected Rauner to do in one term with (House Speaker Michael) Madigan having the majority”, La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove said. Rauner had a lower approval rating than President Donald Trump in a state Trump lost by more than 20 points but he still narrowly defeated extreme conservative Jeanne Ives.

As such, Rauner has spent much of the past year attempting to strike a balance between those key voting blocs.

The path to the highest office in the state includes billionaire J.B. Pritzker.

Democrats in Putnam County favored J.B. Pritzer for governor of IL with.361 votes over Chris Kennedy (213 votes), Daniel Biss (108 votes), Robert Marshall (10 votes), Bob Daiber (6 votes), and Tio Hardiman (3 votes).

In Crawford County, Incumbent William Rutan wins the nomination for Sheriff, defeating David Marqua and Joe Snyder. We are fighting for unions and the families they have so tirelessly defended for so long, Dreamers and immigrants of all kinds seeking a better life, women who deserve their seat at the table and to have their voices heard, and black and brown communities who deserve fairness in enjoying the wealth this great nation denied them for so long. “Pritzker is a machine candidate”.

The same unity hasn’t been seen on the GOP side. In a freakish move, Rauner criticized Pritzker for both hiding his money and for not making more of it.

Rauner, who’s battled the Democratic legislature at every turn, offered his fall campaign theme Tuesday night by inviting support from anyone “disgusted by our system of corruption”.

Rauner angered many of his social conservative backers by allowing the state to expand Medicaid coverage of abortion, making him equally disliked by both sides of the political aisle. Not a single Republican lawmaker supported that legislation.

After greeting diners table-by-table at the restaurant, Gov. Rauner proceeded upstairs where he spoke to a small group of supporters and campaign volunteers, delivering a speech lasting less than five minutes.

“Tonight, we’ve taken the next step of beating Bruce Rauner and putting IL back on the side of working families”, Pritzker said in a statement.

“To those of you around the state of IL who wanted to send me a message, let me be clear: I have heard you”, Rauner said. “He’s not shown any evidence that he wants it – not through his actions on the tax hike, through out-of-control spending”.

$1.5 billion budget deficit this year.

U.S. Representative Dan Lipinski is facing a stiff challenge from businesswoman Marie Newman, who says the incumbent’s socially conservative views are out of touch with the district that first elected him in 2004. “It’s got to be actions”. He also engaged in a long budget standoff with the state legislature that left IL $15 billion behind on its bills and triggered multiple downgrades that pushed the state’s credit rating nearly to junk status.

“I’m not supporting J.B. Pritzker under any circumstances”, was all McSweeney would commit to when asked. “When you got the cards stacked against you I think he’s trying to do what he can”.

As progressives in IL move towards Pritzker, they too will need to accept that this is an imperfect reality that is more discouraging than it is inspiring.

Even if Rauner were able to rally his base, Pritzker has another significant advantage.

Even before Rauner’s projected victory, the Republican Governors Association sought to cast Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt hotel riches, as a “self-serving IL political insider” while poking at the Blagojevich tapes, obtained and published by the Chicago Tribune, which reveal Pritzker offering the former governor an unvarnished take on race relations and state politics.

Pritzker poured about $70 million into the primary contest alone, while Kennedy put up about $2 million of his own cash.