ILLINOIS
      Nov. 4, 2014 Governor                                     

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+Bruce Rauner (R)
1,823,627
 		50.27%
Pat Quinn (D) i
 		1,681,343
 		46.35%
Chad Grimm (L) 121,534
 		3.35%
others (6)
 		1,186

3,627,690
Registration: 7,483,031.  Ballots cast: 3,680,417.
Plurality: 142,284 votes (3.92 percentage points)
 IL State Board of Elections



REPUBLICAN PICK-UP
Notes:  Gov. Pat Quinn (D) lost to businessman Bruce Rauner (R), whose willingness to invest his personal wealth in the campaign was key to his success in both the primary and the general election.  Also on the ballot was Chad Grimm (L), manager of Gold's Gym in Peoria.

Quinn ascended to the governor's office in Jan. 2009 following the State Senate's vote to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D).  He was elected to a full term in Nov. 2010.  In Nov. 2012 Quinn was rated the least popular governor in America.  Quinn's lieutenant governor, Sheila Simon, announced in Feb. 2013 she would not run for re-election.  In June and July 2013 Bill Daley, the former White House chief of staff to President Obama and former Commerce Secretary in the Clinton Administration, launched a run for governor, and he looked likely to present a formidable challenge to Quinn.  However on Sept. 16, Daley surprisingly ended his bid.  Quinn announced Paul Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, as his running mate on Nov. 8.  In the Mar. 18 2014 Democratic primary, Quinn defeated Chicago community organizer Tio Hardiman by 71.94% to 28.06%.  The road ahead was still rocky; in May 2014 the Washington Post dubbed Quinn "the most vulnerable Democratic governor of 2014 (>)."

Rauner, from Winnetka in the Chicago suburbs, was making his first run for office; he chaired the private equity firm GTCR until retiring in 2012.  On March 5, 2013 he formed an exploratory committee, and on June 5 he announced his candidacy.  Rauner announced Wheaton City Councilwoman Evelyn Sanguinetti as his running mate on Oct. 8.  Rauner was not alone in the race for the Republican nomination.  Treasurer Dan Rutherford announced his candidacy on June 2.  State Sen. Bill Brady (Bloomington) announced on June 25, his third run for the office.  State Sen. Kirk Dillard (Chicago western suburbs) announced on July 15, his second run.  Rauner won the Mar. primary with 40.13% of the vote, defeating Dillard (37.22%), Brady (15.09%) and Rutherford (7.56%).  Chicagoist reported Rauner donated more than $6 million to his primary effort.

Quinn and Rauner participated in an early forum on Apr. 17 at the annual meeting of the Illinois Education Association (>).  The two debated downstate on Oct. 9 in WTVP-TV studios in Peoria (>); on Oct. 14 hosted by the Chicago Urban League and the Business Leadership Council at the DuSable Museum of African American History; and on Oct. 20 on ABC 7 in Chicago (>).
 
Illinois voters saw a lot of TV ads; the Center for Public Integrity reported that the Rauner campaign ran 40,600 spots and the Quinn campaign 27,500 (>).  Quinn brought in a bevy of national figures to help him rally support in the closing weeks of the campaign, including President Barack Obama (>).  Rauner, meanwhile, dominated in newspaper endorsements, prompting one columnist to write, "If editorial pages were the voters, Republican Bruce Rauner would bury Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn under a landslide." 

This was the most expensive governor's race of the cycle.  According to the National Institute on Money in Politics, "candidates collectively raise[d] $127.3 million (>)."  The Rauner campaign significantly outspent the Quinn campaign, including a total of $37.5 million Rauner gave to his effort.


Campaign Managers
Bruce Rauner:  Chip Englander
Campaign manager on former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann's 2012 U.S. Senate primary campaign in Wisconsin (finished third).  Campaign manager on Neumann's 2010 gubernatorial primary campaign in Wisconsin (lost to Scott Walker).  Vice president in Mercury Public Affairs' Sacramento office from 2007.  Chief of staff to California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, 2007.  Campaign manager on U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook's 2006 campaign for governor of Oklahoma (lost to Gov. Brad Henry (D)).  Executive director of the Republican Party of San Diego County, 2002.  Graduate of the University of Michigan.  From Santa Monica, California.

 Pat Quinn:  Lou Bertuca
(Nov. 2013)  Deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs to Gov. Quinn, Dec. 2011-Nov. 2013.  Deputy chief of staff at the Illinois Tollway, Aug.-Dec. 2011.  Director of intergovernmental affairs (Jan.-Aug. 2011) and director of protocol and planning (Jan. 2009-Jan. 2011) in the Governor's Office.  Policy aide to Lt. Gov. Quinn, Sept. 2007-Jan. 2009.  Bachelor's degree in political science and government from  Lake Forest College, 2007.


See also:
Pat Gauen.  "Polls are close, newspaper endorsements not, as Illinois governor race nears end."  St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 30, 2014.

Gideon Resnick.  "Why is Pat Quinn the Most Hated Governor in America?"  Vice, Oct. 20, 2014.

Chuck Sudo.  "Bruce Rauner Sets Record For Out Of Pocket Campaign Donations In A Governor Race."  Chicagoist, Mar. 4, 2014.

Charles Mahtesian.  "Most unpopular governor: Pat Quinn."  Politico, Nov. 29, 2012.

Scott Kennedy's illinoiselectiondata.com website.


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