Tag: Richard Uihlein

Bruce Rauner’s Illinois record-setting race for governor in 2014, just under $110 million was spent. Rauner had given his own campaign more than $27 million that year. Rauner has given his own campaign $50 million, while Democrat J.B. Pritzker has invested more than $171 million in his run. He donated $22.5 million to Rauner’s campaign. Since 2013, total donations from those people and their spouses or businesses include more than $111.5 million from Rauner; nearly $172.9 million from Pritzker; $58.6 million from Griffin and nearly $27.5 million from Uihlein. In addition to Uihlein’s nearly $12 million this cycle, there has been $13.5 million from Rauner’s campaign fund, $15.5 million from Pritzker’s campaign fund; and $7.5 million from Griffin. Major donors to GOP candidate for Attorney General Erika Harold are Citizens for Rauner, at more than $1.8 million; with another $1.7 million from Griffin. The spending in Illinois has caught national attention, in part because Pritzker broke the record set by Republican Meg Whitman of California, who in spending $144 million of her own money in a 2010 race for governor of her state had become the biggest self funder in the country’s history. “That really changes the nature of politics if both parties are looking for the financial angel.” Redfield also said that because Pritzker has done so much to help Democratic candidates for other offices, it helped take the pressure off of traditional Democratic funders such as unions and trial lawyers. She also said the extensive funding of political parties by those candidates is another concern.

The biggest changes in politics in Illinois during Gov. Rauner’s election. In an increasing number of legislative races, spending now exceeds $1 million, and 54 percent of the legislative seats lacked a major party opponent in the last election. As the price of campaigning in competitive districts increased, more money came from outside of the districts as both parties’ campaign committees transfer funds to close races. Kent Redfield, a retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois-Springfield and an expert on campaign spending in Illinois, found that three individuals, Rauner, Ken Griffin and Richard Uihlein, now dominate the funding for the Illinois State Republican Party, the Republican State House and the Republican state Senate committees. These three committees in turn have contributed 96 percent of the money raised between 2015 and 2016 by the Illinois Republican Party and Republican State House Organization and about 69 percent of the funds raised by the Republican state Senate Campaign Committee. Labor contributes about half of the Democrats’ money, 48 percent for the state Democratic Party, 47 percent to the Senate Democratic Victory Fund and 50 percent to the House Democratic majority. In the past, the wealthy were content to influence politics by contributing to campaigns; increasingly they are running for office themselves. While the Republican Party is more open to extremely wealthy candidates than the Democratic Party, the prominence of wealthy non-office-holding candidates in this election cycle’s Democratic primary indicates just how quickly one party imitates the other. The increasing importance of wealthy donors and candidates distances officeholders from the public.