Illinois Governor's Race Could Be The Most Expensive One Ever
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Billionaire J.B. Pritzker is officially launching Thursday his campaign. The head of a watchdog group said the campaign for Illinois Governor is likely to feature an unprecedented level of spending.
Incumbent Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has already put $50-million of his own money into his re-election bid. Democratic hopeful and businessman Chris Kennedy already reports $1-million in his campaign war chest and has donated a quarter-million to himself shattering spending caps in that campaign.
New democratic candidate, J.B. Pritzker campaign fund is just getting started, but Forbes said he is worth $3.4-billion. WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.
Sarah Brune, Executive Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the stage is set for a record-breaking election season.
"We've seen the contribution limits lifted on the democratic side of the race through Chris Kennedy's contribution to his own campaign," Brune said. "The governor did put in $50-million to his own campaign committee at the end of last year, so things are already off to a very pricey start."
Brune said one consequence of the big money campaign is that every day voters feel their voices will not be heard.
"One thing that we saw in the 2016 election where there was very astronomical levels of spending in all types of races is voters feeling their voice cannot be heard," Brune said. "They do not have millions of dollars."
The other democratic candidates in the governor's race do not have millions of dollars but are still trying to raise them.
