{"id":61016,"date":"2018-03-21T05:04:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T05:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=61016"},"modified":"2018-03-21T05:04:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T05:04:20","slug":"gov-bruce-rauner-and-j-b-pritzker-to-face-off-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/gov-bruce-rauner-and-j-b-pritzker-to-face-off-in-illinois.html","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker to Face Off in Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker to Face Off in Illinois<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The race for Illinois governor has come down to this: the multimillionaire versus the billionaire.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gov. Bruce Rauner, a private-equity executive seeking a second term in office, prevailed in a tough battle for the Republican nomination on Tuesday, while J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire philanthropist and venture capitalist from a prominent Chicago family, won the Democratic nomination for governor, according to the Associated Press.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their victories promise a contest that will be fiercely fought and dominated by big money, with each candidate controlling tremendous sums of personal wealth to spend on his campaign. The two men have already raised more than $150 million, on track to become one of the most expensive governor\u2019s races in history.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the state\u2019s most closely watched congressional primary, the longtime Chicago-area Representative Daniel Lipinski held a narrow lead early Wednesday morning over a challenger from the left, Marie Newman, according to the A.P. The race became something of a proxy between moderate and progressive Democrats.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the coming general election campaign for governor, Mr. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel chain, is expected to present a serious threat to Mr. Rauner, who has alienated voters on both the left and the right during his rocky term. For more than three years, a frustrated Mr. Rauner has battled Michael J. Madigan, the powerful Democratic speaker of the House; struggled to implement his own agenda; and, in the process, become one of the most vulnerable incumbent governors in the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Mr. Rauner, 61, survived a challenge from Jeanne Ives, a Republican legislator and Army veteran who took a hard-right stance on social issues and attacked him for being insufficiently conservative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Rauner appealed for unity in a speech on Tuesday night, imploring Republicans, independents and Democrats to give him another term in office to institute needed change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s work together to bridge the divide,\u201d he said. \u201cThe election in November will be a choice, a clear choice, a choice between someone who will stand up to the machine and someone who has long been part of it. Between someone who will fight for hardworking families and someone who will protect the political insiders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Pritzker, who has donated close to $70 million to his own campaign, fell short of 50 percent of the Democratic vote, but still outpaced Chris Kennedy, a businessman and a son of Robert F. Kennedy, and Daniel Biss, a suburban state senator.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an acceptance speech before a crowd of supporters here on Tuesday night, Mr. Pritzker, 53, called for universal health care, fair wages, protections for labor unions and the legalization of marijuana.<\/span><\/p>\n

He vowed to be a champion for the needy, for children, and for immigrants who have come to Illinois seeking a better life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis campaign is about a fight for economic security, about jobs and wages,\u201d Mr. Pritzker said. \u201cI choose to fight for the struggling. I choose to fight for the black and brown communities across our state, for the one thing, the one and only thing you\u2019ve asked for for so long \u2014 fairness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready for a fight?\u201d he said, drawing wild applause.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Pritzker and Mr. Rauner are fighting to lead a state with deeply entrenched problems. Whoever wins will have to contend with Illinois\u2019s vastly underfunded pension systems; worries about residents fleeing the state; and a sagging economy downstate, where manufacturing jobs have disappeared, leaving many residents unemployed and financially struggling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both men have moved in elite Chicago circles of business and philanthropy for decades, yet they did not share a personal relationship. In an interview last month, Mr. Pritzker said he barely knew Mr. Rauner, and was better acquainted with his wife, Diana Rauner, who runs a public-private partnership focused on early childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Rauner, a native of Chicago\u2019s wealthy north suburbs who made a fortune as the chairman of a private-equity firm, presented himself to voters in 2013 as an outsider, a Harley-riding political newcomer with a folksy affect who would fix Illinois\u2019s financial problems and make the state more attractive to companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Rauner\u2019s tenure has been marked by a budget impasse that paralyzed Illinois, especially social-service agencies, arts organizations and public universities that depend on state funding. It was finally resolved last July when Democrats in the State Legislature overrode Mr. Rauner\u2019s veto, ending the stalemate and passing a budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

During his first run for office, he rarely mentioned social issues like abortion and managed to attract sizable support from independents and Democrats. As governor, he angered religious conservatives by signing a bill that expanded abortion coverage for women on Medicaid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, he vetoed a piece of legislation that would have required gun dealers to obtain state licenses, a move that was widely seen as an appeal to Republicans in rural downstate Illinois.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Ives, a member of the Illinois House, positioned herself as the true conservative in the race. But she trailed Mr. Rauner in fund-raising, raising $4 million to his $100 million. She criticized Mr. Rauner over abortion rights, immigration and his handling of a Legionnaires\u2019 disease outbreak at a state-run veterans home that has left 13 people dead since 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the campaign\u2019s final days, the Democratic Governors Association sneaked into the fray, running a television ad attacking Ms. Ives as \u201ctoo conservative\u201d \u2014 presumably a veiled attempt to give Ms. Ives a boost in the hopes that she could overtake Mr. Rauner in the primary.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the closely watched congressional primary, the challenger, Ms. Newman, drew on Democrats\u2019 appetite for more confrontational and liberal officeholders as she gave Mr. Lipinski the biggest scare he has had since he was elected in 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wielding support from an array of progressive groups, Ms. Newman assailed Mr. Lipinski, a conservative Democrat, for his opposition to such liberal priorities as abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act.<\/span><\/p>\n

After attempting to ignore the challenge, Mr. Lipinski scrambled to put down the insurgency with a late blitz of commercials and mailers highlighting his more orthodox positions and roots in Chicago\u2019s so-called Bungalow Belt.<\/span><\/p>\n

He succeeded his father in the seat, which has sent a Lipinski to Washington since 1982. But the same southwest side and suburban Chicago precincts that were mainstays of the city\u2019s Democratic machine are quickly evolving. A growing Hispanic population and the influx of upscale white voters have transformed what were once working-class Irish and Polish neighborhoods. The remaining, machine-aligned precincts in the city helped him compete against Ms. Newman.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like Mr. Lipinski to have a very painful evening, so we\u2019re going to wait,\u201d Ms. Newman told supporters after taking the stage around 10:45 p.m. local time, adding only that she would say more on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/03\/20\/us\/politics\/bruce-rauner-governor-illinois.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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