A Republican candidate for governor of Illinois has $25 million more in his coffers this week to support his bid to oust Democrat incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin ponied up the extra cash to hopefully push Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin into the governor’s mansion and asserted he was “all in,” according to Fox Business.
In fact, the recent contribution reflects a doubling down by the founder and CEO of Citadel hedge fund after he initially gave $20 million to campaign efforts as part of his opposition to Pritzker’s support for a graduated rate tax system, the Chicago Tribune reported last fall.
As the most wealthy Illinois resident, Griffin said he’s ready to fight tooth and nail against the current governor’s policies.
“I’m going to make sure that if he runs again, that I am all-in to support the candidate who will beat him,” Griffin said in late 2021. “He doesn’t deserve to be the governor of our state.”
NEW campaign contribution filing in the Illinois Governor’$ race: Republican @IrvinBourne4IL banks another $25 million from Ken Griffin. pic.twitter.com/fW2arC6Gj2
— Amanda Vinicky (@AmandaVinicky) May 5, 2022
But dollars may not spell victory as the Prairie State’s voting record has been dyed blue for each and every presidential voting record since 1992.
The previous Republican Governor Bruce Rauner served a single term before Pritzker took over the governorship in 2018 with a 15.7 percent margin of victory.
To further aggravate the possibility of a conservative win, fellow billionaire Pritzker, worth an estimated $3.6 billion, isn’t shy about dropping his own funds to secure his seat, having spent $171 million the first time around and $125 so far on his second campaign.
Money aside, Irvin asserted in a recent campaign ad that he is the left’s “worst nightmare.”
(Video Credit: Irvin & Bourne For Illinois)
“There is nothing that the left fears more than Republicans who look like me, and think like us,” he said.
“That all lives matter, that cops should be defended, not defunded,” he continued. “That handouts keep people down, but maybe that’s what liberal politicians want.”
“I’m Richard Irvin, and I’m their worst nightmare,” he said.
But not everyone saw it the same way as Irvin with many laughing off the latest campaign contribution as a “waste of money” while others predicted it may just land a conservative victory in the predicted red wave that is set to sweep the country in this year’s elections.
Ha! Talk about wasting money!
— H.J. (@Hamilton_Jonson) May 5, 2022
the Incumbent Governor of NJ had a 55% approval rating (higher than what Pritzker has had) and came within 3% of losing to an underfunded candidate in a Biden +16 state
if R turnout is sky high, can overcome almost anything.
— Chris (@ctsfumo) May 6, 2022
in very good R environments (when swing voters don’t like the incumbent Dem president and R base voters are crazy fired up to vote) it takes lots of money and ground game to beat well funded candidates (Irvin’s gonna have more than almost any Gov candidate in history)
— Chris (@ctsfumo) May 6, 2022
Clearly he’s made his bet. Too early in my opinion but it is his money.
— RLD Jr (@rldesmondjr) May 5, 2022
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16 thoughts on “‘I am all in’: Billionaire Ken Griffin pours $25M into Illinois governor race to defeat Dem incumbent”
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I don’t hold out much hope for Illinois. It is the most corrupt state in the union. I’m sure the voter fraud will see that the Democrat wins.
Ahh… Illinois.
More convicted Governors than any other state in the Union!
Irvin is a mole for the Democrat party. His campaign ads are full of bullshit. Darren Bailey for Governor.
As long as the dead in Chicago cemeteries are allowed to vote in multiple precincts in every election all the money in the world will not elect a Republican as IL governor.
Hopefully some of the money goes to security for people to watch polls and ballots showing up in the middle of the night
This is the best you could do Mr. Griffin??? We don’t need anymore Rauner-type RINOS in IL! Thought you knew better. Guess money doesn’t make you smart.
I guess the people of Illinois love the idea of their kids being murdered and them living in poverty like animals because they continue to vote for democrats.who don’t give a damn about their citizens. Oh well, you can’t reason with stupidity. Don’t feel sorry for these moron people in Illinois
You got that wrong, and are stereotyping. I live in central IL, and if you look at the state, and how it votes this is what happens. As Cook County, which is Chicago, goes, so does IL. For example, in the 2016 election, Hillary won 6 counties in the state, out of 102 counties, and when all was said and done, Hillary won the state fairly easily. Brandon, err, I mean Biden won a couple more counties in 2020 for basically the same result. We’re trying, but when over half the states population is in Cook County and the collar counties it makes it tough to overcome. People are showing their disdain by moving. If that doesn’t change your view, then I would, in your title, replace member with another noun. Plus, we don’t need sympathy.
I left Illinois permanently in 2016. After 50 years of living in that h*ll hole controlled by the fraudulent votes counted in Chicago, I moved away. Chicago voting has been full of Fraud for decades. Every body buried in a Chicago cemetery votes in multiple precincts in every election and every one of those votes is recorded for a democrat.
They aren’t all morons. It’s primarily Chicago, the rest of Cook County, and the surrounding counties. Split them off from Illinois and make another state.
I believe you’re referring to Chicago–NOT Illinois! The majority of the state is rural and small town. Chicago has been corrupt for over 100 years (Remember the Daley family? They are the ultimate example of corruption. Remember the mob families?)
I have family who live in rural Illinois. They are salt of the earth conservative Christians. They stay out of Chicago.
We should also remember Big Bill Thompson, the last Republican Mayor of Chicago who created Chicago style politics and was also Al Capone’s good friend.
Very disturbing that millions of $ must be spent to try to win elections!
I’ve posted before that we need ELECTION REFORM that ELIMINATES DARK MONEY and “non-interested” parties funding! Local races should be limited to local people donating, Congressional districts limited to district residents, Senate limited to state residents, and VP/President limited to US CITIZENS and NO PACS or CORPS – ONLY INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS and the STRICT LIMIT of $2700 per election race! Put the politicians back on the streets knocking on doors and waving at babies – might be arrested For KISSING them!
Unfortunately, that would probably not raise the amounts needed to reach all the voters in the city, county, district, state, or nation.
As long as businesses can be sued and taxed, their First Amendment rights cannot be truncated.
Very disturbing that candidates must reach many thousands to many millions of voters with their message to try to win elections.