2018 Illinois Governor's Race Is Already In a Class By Itself

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois' 2018 election for governor will not be the only one in the country, but the head of a watchdog group says the race is already in a class by itself.

So far, there are six announced Democrats vying to try to unseat Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, and among them, they've raised $61 million. $50 million is Rauner's own money.

Sarah Brune, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, says New York, California, Texas and Ohio are among states also electing governors, but that there's no place like Illinois.

"First of all, none of them have as many candidates declared this early on as Illinois. But also, those candidates are only raising $1 or $2 million each at this point – none of them are raising $7 million or $50 million."

Brune's group has long fought for more disclosure laws to help people know who's giving money to the candidates.

"We are able to synthesize that information and give it to voters in a way that is not going to take them a lot of time to dig in and understand," she said.

Brune says the record level of spending expected in the Illinois Governor's race is just part of a trend that may be scaring some possible candidates away from politics.

Some would-be candidates fear that they could not afford to run for office unless they are millionaires, or have friends who are.