News Roundup: Rauner’s Sweating in his Primary Race

How did it end up like this? For months, Governor Bruce Rauner dismissed his primary opponent, state Representative Jeanne Ives, as a “fringe” candidate and all but ignored her candidacy. Now, Rauner’s sweating the final days of his primary campaign – turning his fire on Ives and worrying about turnout.
A recent poll put Ives within striking distance, with a mere 42-35 lead. Rauner never refuted the numbers exceptto say, “polls are pretty irrelevant. I don’t pay any attention to them.” Rauner’s words don’t match up with his money, though: Rauner’s campaign spent at least $378,000 on “polling” and “survey research” in 2017.
Here is a news roundup on the eve of Rauner’s surprisingly competitive primary election:
NBC Chicago Headline: “Ives Appears to Gain Surge of Support Days Before Election”
NRO Headline: “Conservative Gains Ground on Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in Primary Race”
Crain’s Chicago Business: “All the Rauner campaign is saying officially is that it’s ‘taking nothing for granted.’ But you can take all of the above as a sign that Team Rauner is worried that, at a minimum, Ives could pull within 10 percent of him. That would be a huge embarrassment for an incumbent governor and raise questions about his ability to unite the party in November.”
Peoria Journal-Star: “Rauner has got to be scared that an equally strong performance by Ives means the same for him. If she clears 30 percent, let alone the higher numbers that some claim she’s capable of, it could mean lights out for Rauner in the fall.”
Politico: “Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner insists he is ‘100 percent’ focused on the November general election, and not worried about the conservative challenger trying to unseat him on Tuesday. His actions, however, seem to suggest otherwise.”
Chicago Sun-Times: “But with a new survey suggesting that Ives had crept up within 7 percentage points of Rauner, a new round of television ad buys from the governor’s campaign on Friday suggested Rauner could be feeling the heat as one of the most vulnerable sitting governors in the country.”
New York Times: “Mr. Rauner, 61, who sold himself as an outsider who would bring a businessman’s sensibility to the task of untangling Illinois’s political and fiscal morass, now finds himself fighting for re-election on two dizzying fronts. On the right, Jeanne Ives, a Republican legislator and Army veteran known for her hard-right stances on taxes, immigration and abortion, has forced him into a contested primary on Tuesday.”
Chicago Daily Herald: “‘If the real hard core turns out, Rauner is in trouble,’ veteran Republican organizer Pat Durante of Addison said. ‘If the moderates turn out, Ives is in trouble. If you asked me to pick who’ll win today … I couldn’t.’”
Politico: “[Rep. David] McSweeney accused Rauner of panicking after anecdotal reports of low early-voting turnout among Republican voters. ‘These turnout numbers are really worrying the Rauner people,’ McSweeney said. ‘He’s running scared in Southern Illinois.’”

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[Illinois Campaign Finance, Q1 Report, Q2 Report, Q3 Report, Q4 Report, Accessed 3/19/18]