Illinois Primaries Set Spending Records
ICPR Executive Director Sarah Brune is quoted in this article
via Herald & Review
“SPRINGFIELD – There’s a lot of uncertainty in Illinois politics these days, but one thing seems guaranteed: The flow of millions of dollars into key legislative races isn’t going to end anytime soon.
Before the current election cycle, the most that had ever been invested in a primary for a seat in the General Assembly was the $1.2 million spent in a 2014 Democratic contest between state Rep. Christian Mitchell and Jay Travis in Chicago’s 26th House District, said Kent Redfield, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
But this time around, two races in Tuesday’s primaries, both widely viewed as proxy battles between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, blew that total out of the water. A combined $10 million was spent on the campaigns, each of which pitted a lawmaker who had bucked his party’s leadership against a well-financed challenger.”
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