Illinois governor’s race shapes up to be a battle of the billionaires

When hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin determined to throw $50mn of his personal cash behind a candidate to unseat a fellow billionaire from the Illinois governor’s mansion, the huge measurement of his spending ought to have made it a foolproof plan.

The one drawback: a rival Republican billionaire had the identical concept. Now, the race pits three of the richest males in US politics towards each other and has come to symbolise the latest development in state-level political races — candidates financed by only one rich, highly-motivated donor.

The incumbent, Democrat JB Pritzker, is an inheritor to the Hyatt lodge fortune who has self-funded his marketing campaign to the quantity of $125mn. Republican Richard Irvin, a mainstream mayor of the state’s second-largest metropolis, is backed by Griffin, chief govt of Citadel. And his rival for the Republican nomination is Darren Bailey, a far-right state senator who has obtained greater than $9mn from GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein.

Whereas Uihlein has injected considerably much less into the race than Griffin, and acquired concerned at a later date, it’s the Uihlein-backed Bailey who’s polling 15 factors forward of Irvin, in keeping with a brand new ballot of possible Republican voters within the June 28 main.

The election is on monitor to be the most costly gubernatorial race in US historical past, in keeping with OpenSecrets, the non-partisan watchdog group.

It can even be a litmus check of how particular person donors can wield affect by writing an enormous cheque to assist a candidate early on within the race — a development that has grown for the reason that Supreme Courtroom lifted marketing campaign finance limits in 2010. Historically, billionaires like Uihlein, a transport provides magnate, and Griffin, would funnel their donations by way of celebration committees and PACs, which might then decide candidates to again.

Griffin and Uihlein usually are not alone in going the direct route. Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has lately made a behavior of writing $10mn and $20mn cheques to rightwing midterm candidates effectively earlier than their primaries.

Even on this small universe of multimillion greenback particular person donations, Griffin’s giving has attracted consideration. “I’ve by no means seen something prefer it,” mentioned one Republican fundraiser.

Earlier than the Supreme Courtroom choice, political donations had been capped within the hundreds of {dollars}. “If a company PAC makes a $10,000 donation in a cycle, that’s large. You have got that candidate’s ear, you’ve nearly limitless entry,” the Republican fundraiser mentioned. With Griffin donating within the tens of thousands and thousands: “The quantity of energy he has is unbelievable.”

Thus far this cycle, Griffin has donated greater than $65mn to largely Republican candidates on the federal and state stage, in keeping with knowledge from OpenSecrets. Within the 2020 cycle, he gave over $180mn to state and federal candidates, whereas in Illinois, he has pumped $179mn into races since 2002, in keeping with knowledge from the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Whereas Illinois is a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections, there may be considerably extra competitors on the gubernatorial stage. The state behaves like Massachusetts, Vermont and Maryland — all blue bastions that frequently elect Republican governors. Of the six Illinois governors since 1991, half have been Republicans, together with Pritzker’s predecessor Bruce Rauner, one other multimillionaire turned politician.

For Griffin, the state’s richest man, the Illinois governor’s race is private. In November 2021, he advised reporters that he would go “all-in” to financially again whichever candidate he thought had an opportunity to defeat Pritzker, with whom he has clashed on tax regulation and policing.

“Richard Irvin is the precise reverse of JB Pritzker,” Griffin advised the Monetary Occasions. “As mayor of Aurora, Richard has efficiently delivered on the problems Illinoisans care most about.”

Pritzker, however, has failed to cut back “the mindless violence and corruption engulfing the state”, Griffin added, insisting the incumbent — whose sister Penny was Barack Obama’s commerce secretary — has “targeted on his personal political picture and ambitions”.

Representatives for Pritzker and Uihlein didn’t reply to requests for remark. Bailey’s marketing campaign famous that the state senator had the assist of greater than 20,000 volunteers, along with Uihlein’s monetary backing. Irvin has mentioned {that a} vote for Bailey, whose rightwing views and hardline anti-abortion platform might delay the state’s thousands and thousands of reasonable voters, is a vote for Pritzker.

“It’s like two bullies in a playground,” mentioned Chris Mooney, a political-science professor on the College of Illinois at Chicago, referring to Pritzker and Griffin.

One Democratic strategist concerned in Illinois politics referred to as the Republican main “surprisingly intense”, warning the overall election could possibly be, too, regardless of the money Pritzker himself has poured into his marketing campaign.

“Cash can’t purchase you all the pieces, and Pritzker shouldn’t be seen as some sacred cow that may by no means be defeated. He clearly can,” the strategist added.

Illinois has lengthy had a convention of vibrant — and infrequently corrupt — political figures, many solid within the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago’s bare-knuckled campaigns the place unions, property builders and a handful of political dynasties vied for dominance. Griffin, Uihlein and Pritzker are altering that.

“The everyday machine politics that dominated the cash sport . . . has now been changed by a handful of billionaires,” the strategist mentioned. “It might cut back corruption, however I don’t know if that’s higher for democracy.”

Regardless of the rising variety of candidates securing a single billionaire backer — in addition to billionaire candidates self-financing their campaigns — it stays unclear whether or not the funding mannequin is a route to success.

“When you’ve a candidate who’s getting most of their cash from one particular individual or group . . . it isn’t the identical as getting cash from all kinds of constituents,” mentioned Pete Quist, deputy analysis director of OpenSecrets.

Most donors who’re prepared to present candidates small-dollar contributions are additionally extra motivated to vote, Quist added.

Todd Maisch, chief govt of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, mentioned he seen the billionaire political mannequin as unnatural and unsustainable and believed Irvin’s incapacity to achieve traction regardless of Griffin’s backing was “the top of billionaires deciding what’s or isn’t going to occur in Illinois”.

Others are much less sanguine. “I don’t suppose [the billionaires] are going to go away,” mentioned one other Democratic strategist. It might simply “take some time earlier than they get to a spot the place labour [unions have] been in Illinois”.

Further reporting by Caitlin Gilbert in New York