Illinois: Dollars Flowing

​The Illinois Governor’s race is on pace to set a campaign spending record.  Second quarter statistics are out, and we see two candidates, incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) and venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker (D) writing major checks to their own campaign.  At the end of last year, Mr. Rauner dropped $50 million of his own money into his campaign and now has a whopping $67 million cash-on-hand.  Mr. Pritzker threw $14 million of his own money into the race with just under $5 million left in the bank from his early advertising media blitz.  Surprisingly, businessman Chris Kennedy, wealthy son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, raised only $704,000 in the quarter, far below the others even though polling shows him leading the Democratic primary.  He has just under $1 million in the bank.  Another Democratic candidate, state Sen. Daniel Bliss, actually outraised Kennedy.  He gathered just over $1 million, and has $2.3 million available to spend.