Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner is traveling the state by bus in the final days before the mid-term election as he tries to rally support for his re-election campaign. The Republican used a brief stop in Quincy Thursday morning to tout his plans for the next four years and to rail against his opponent, Democrat J.B. Pritzker.
Rauner was received warmly by a crowd of about 30 people at The Park Bench restaurant in downtown Quincy. Elected leaders such as State Senator Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), State Representative Randy Frese (R-Paloma) and Adams County States Attorney Gary Farha greeted Rauner after he stepped off his campaign bus.
Rauner started out thanking the Republican Party in Adams County for its support.
“Every vote we get here, we don’t have to get up in Cook County,” said Rauner, highlighting the fact that his victory in 2014 was close, even though he won every county in the state except Cook.
“A lot of people might say ‘I’m too busy to vote,’ or My vote does not matter.’ Every Vote Matters! This race is going to be closer than people think.”
The website RealClearPolitics.com has Pritzker leading by nearly 16% in the race for Illinois Governor.
Rauner said his chances of winning improve as the truth comes out.
“[Pritzker] is outspending us by $100-million,” said Rauner. “Good grief, he is trying to buy the election. [He is] covering the airwaves with false advertising, but the truth is breaking through. That’s why it’s so great to have some members of the media here. The truth gets known, we are going to win.”
Rauner then started listing reasons why he does not believe Pritzker is fit for office.
“Corruption, insider dealing, this guy has used the language of racists, he’s been caught on FBI wiretaps trying to buy office from [former Illinois Governor Rod] Blagojevich, his own staff is suing him for racial discrimination, and Cook County Democrats investigated him for his property tax shenanigans and they decided property tax fraud, mail fraud and perjury for falsely manipulating, taking toilets out, saying ‘No one can live here so it’s worthless, I should not have to pay $330,000 in property taxes.’ This guy is corrupt at his core.”
Rauner said if re-elected, he would continue working to lower taxes and decrease business regulations. He would also back efforts to implement term limits for lawmakers and to draw up fair legislative maps after the 2020 Census.
“This election is not about Democrat vs Republican as much as it’s about all of us, the citizens of the state against a very corrupt, broken, political machine out of Chicago that [Illinois House Speaker Michael] Madigan runs and Pritzker funds,” said Rauner.
Rauner also used his stop in Quincy to tout his support for Republican Erika Harold, who is running for Illinois Attorney General. Incumbent Democrat Lisa Madigan is not seeking re-election.
“My favorite statewide candidate, other than [Lt. Governor] Evelyn Sanguinetti, is Erika Harold,” said Rauner. “Having an attorney general who would actually work for the people instead of her dad. What a great day for the state of Illinois to have a real attorney general, who’s actually working for the laws of the state and justice in the state rather than defending and hiding, working on behalf of the corrupt political machine that her dad runs.”
