Press Release: Illinois breaks gubernatorial spending record long held by California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kerry Lester
kerry@centerforilpolitics.org
CHICAGO—Illinois has bested California’s long-held record as the state with the most expensive gubernatorial race in the nation.
An analysis by the Center for Illinois Politics shows that candidates in the Illinois governor’s race spent a collective $280.21 million, surpassing California’s $280 million when former Gov. Jerry Brown defeated Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman. If in-kind contributions spent on behalf of the candidate are counted, Illinois’ total is even higher—at $282.6 million.
New Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker spent $173 million on the race and another $1.7 million was spent through in-kind contributions, filings with the state board of elections show. His predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, spent $78 million and saw another $328,951 of in-kind contributions come in during the race that he ultimately lost. Democratic primary bidder Daniel Biss spent $7.3 million and had $49,841 in in-kind contributions; Chris Kennedy spent $6.9 million and saw $141,868 of in-kinds; and GOP primary bidder Jeanne Ives spent $4.3 million and had $11,665 contributed in-kind.
A complete breakdown each of the candidates’ spending totals can be found below.
“The cost of running for office continues to skyrocket in Illinois,” Center for Illinois Politics Co-founder and Chair Susan Garrett, a former state senator, said. “Significant spending, particularly by those who have amassed personal fortunes, is changing the dynamics within and outside Illinois.”
Garrett and former Republican state Sen. John Millner earlier this week launched the the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Illinois Politics with the aim of making political data more accessible and digestible to the general public.
The Center’s primary function is the development of a freely accessible website that deals with numerous forms of political data in one place, crunching the numbers on campaign finance and political trends, as well as providing educational tools to help residents become better informed voters.
The site will feature several nonpartisan, data-based articles each week, written by journalists and reviewed by a bipartisan board that includes Garrett, Millner, former Democratic state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg of Evanston, GOP Rep. Suzi Bassi of Palatine, former 10th District Democratic Congressional Candidate Dan Seals, University of Illinois Chicago Political Science Professor Christopher Z. Mooney, radio host Maze Jackson and others.
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