THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Hosting WMAY Morning Show today from 6a-9a...Dems infighting for SoS...Voter turnout...Congressional races
June 23, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
I’ll be hosting “Springfield’s Morning News” on WMAY this morning from 6am-9am. If you’re in the Springfield area, it’s at 92.7FM, if not, you can listen live at www.wmay.com.
Card is always subject to change, but we’re expecting to talk to Secretary of State candidate Dan Brady and 13th District Congressional candidates Regan Deering, Jesse Reising, and Matt Hausman.
It’s going to be candidate crash courses for listeners making up their minds over the next couple of days.
We’ll still have a paid subscriber edition tomorrow as we head in to the final weekend before Election Day, and I’ll report back if anything wild happens over the weekend.
If you aren’t yet a paying subscriber, it’s just $9.99 per month or $99 per year to show your support of the work we’re doing here. You get breaking news alerts (subscribers had our exclusive 15th District poll Monday afternoon before it went out publicly Tuesday) as well as two subscriber-exclusive newsletters each week.
I hope you’ll join us and help us continue our mission of independent truth-telling.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)
Duels of the road? Democrats’ critical views of each other make secretary of state race seem even more crowded (Chicago Sun-Times)
A popular former state treasurer versus a trail-blazing, rising star of the Illinois Democratic Party, as well as an esteemed South Side alderman and a south suburban non-profit director?
Or is it an inept former banker versus a City Hall insider who allegedly boosted her husband’s lobbying business, as well as a desperate politician making baseless accusations and a political puppet planted in the race to confuse voters?
It all depends on which candidate you ask in the heated four-way Democratic primary race for secretary of state, the party’s only statewide contest without an incumbent vying for the nomination — forcing Illinois’ most powerful Dems to pick sides.
The looming void left by retiring Secretary of State Jesse White — long considered Illinois’ most popular elected official after an unprecedented six terms — has drawn an ambitious field of hopefuls looking to maintain Democratic control of the state’s most public-facing office, responsible for driver services and most other record-keeping.
While former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, Ald. David Moore (17th) and Homewood resident Sidney Moore all agree that modernizing technology in the office would be their top priority, they diverge on their characterizations of one another.
Related: Democrat candidates for SoS sit down with WGN-TV Political Report (WGN)
Candidate interview: Secretary of state hopeful David Moore (Capitol News Illinois)
Top GOP guv candidates offer few specifics on economic policy (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Pritzker: 'I have no reason not to' run ads against Republicans prior to primary (Bloomington Pantagraph)
(note: had the RGA spent millions propping up lefty Sen. Daniel Biss in 2018, Pritzker would have screamed bloody murder. #doublestandard)
Opinion: Rabine wants to pull Illinois up by its bootstraps (Champaign News-Gazette)
Editorial: We need an investigation into $2 billion lost to fraud (Daily Herald)
This is the latest Illinois has had a primary election since at least the Great Depression. What is voter turnout looking like? (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Election Board Chair Marisel Hernandez recently included an unusual warm weather addendum to her regular pre-election pitch encouraging voters to cast ballots in the upcoming Illinois primary: Do so before you leave town.
“If you’re planning on a summer vacation in the coming weeks, choose to vote by mail,” she said.
Hernandez’s vacation plea shows how the shift of the primary election from its usual March perch to June 28 has created a new set of complications for election officials and candidates trying to get people to the polls.
It is the latest Illinois has held a primary since at least the Great Depression — forced back over three months because 2020 U.S. Census Bureau numbers needed for redistricting were late — and arrives less than a week before the Fourth of July holiday.
Is there anybody reading this newsletter who isn’t voting in the primary? Drop me an e-mail, I’d like to know why. I’ll protect your identity. patrick@theillinoize.com.
Related: Ken Griffin’s money expected to again play role in Illinois Supreme Court elections, starting with primary for suburban district seat (Chicago Tribune)
'The Republican Party is on a roll': Former VP Mike Pence speaks to packed house in Peoria (Peoria Journal-Star)
Former Sen. Tom Cullerton sentenced to 1 year in prison for embezzlement (Capitol News Illinois)
A Cook County politician’s home got “special attention” from suburban police (WBEZ)
Most GOP candidates in 11th Congressional race light on campaign funds, records show (Shaw Media)
Most of the Republican candidates for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District seat entered the last three weeks of the primary race strapped for campaign cash, records show.
As of early June, three of the six GOP hopefuls in the 11th had less than $10,000 to spend on mailers, media buys or other traditional purchases; a fourth said she hadn’t raised enough to file a report with the Federal Election Commission.
None had anything close to the $4.8 million war chest incumbent Democrat Bill Foster of Naperville has amassed for the general election contest ahead.
The Republican candidates in the June 28 primary are North Aurora Trustee Mark Carroll; Jerry Evans of Warrenville; Susan L. Hathaway-Altman of the Geneva area; Andrea Heeg of the Geneva area; Catalina Lauf of Woodstock; and Cassandra Tanner Miller of Elgin.
If there’s a “competitive” race Republicans are least likely to flip in November, it’s this one.
Related: Opinion: Extremists pushing both parties in the wrong direction (Champaign News-Gazette)
(note: smart guy he talked to)
Candidates in the 13th congressional district gear up for next week’s election (Illinois Public Media)
(note: really smart guy they talked to)
Rep. Underwood's fundraising again tops Republican hopefuls' in 14th District (Daily Herald)
SOME TOP LINKS FROM THE WEEK SO FAR
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