(The Center Square) – A recent donation of nearly $14 million to a political action committee signals voters will be getting a barrage of political ads heading into the final few weeks before the Nov. 8 election.
Incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has largely self-funded his political campaign. So far this year, Pritzker has given his campaign $110 million.
Richard Uihlein, the billionaire owner of the Uline company, last week gave People Who Play By The Rules PAC $13.9 million. That brings the total Uihlein has donated to more than $42 million for the PAC. Uihlein has given Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey more than $10 million.
Reform For Illinois Executive Director Alisa Kaplan tracks campaign funds with IllinoisSunshine.org. She said Pritzker and Uihlein have been putting money into politics all year, but the last-minute dollars will go for political ads in the short time before the election.
“For a lot of voters, they’re kind of sitting back and waiting until they absolutely have to pay attention because they’re going to have to make a decision on election day and so this is when you really have that brief window of voters attention and you want to take advantage of it and just drive that message home,” Kaplan told The Center Square.
While Pritzker has been running ads on TV alleging Bailey is too extreme for Illinois because of his conservative beliefs, Bailey launches a TV ad this week.
The ad starts with a card saying “WARNING SOME OF THE SCENES YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE ARE GRAPHIC AND NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN.” It then shows various surveillance-type videos of crimes happening with alarms and sirens sounding. A ticker at the bottom shows stats on the number of shootings, murders, sexual assaults, robberies and batteries.
“Under J.B. Pritzker and [Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot], crime is out of control,” Bailey says in the ad. “I’ll end Pritzker’s no cash bail policy that’s putting violent criminals back on our streets. I’ll increase police recruitment and retention to put more officers in our neighborhoods. I’m Darren Bailey and your safety will always be my priority.”
Other recent ads from People Who Play By The Rules critical of Pritzker show crimes being committed on the streets, sidewalks and public transit.
“Sometimes it gets pretty extreme, like those ‘scream’ ads that showed the lady who was getting mugged in Chicago, people have really visceral reactions to that,” Kaplan said. “Usually if you talk to people they’ll say ‘I don’t like negative campaigning, I don’t like negative ads,’ but the fact is candidates keep pushing them out there and it’s very possible that the reason they do that is because they’re effective.”
Kaplan said voters should be aware of how messaging can impact their outlook and to be educated consumers of political material.
But, the political dollars aren’t just going to ads.
Pritzker has been giving out large donations to others running for office. Recently he gave incumbent Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Democratic secretary of state candidate Alexi Giannoulias $1 million each. He gave the Democrats for the Illinois House fund $3 million.
Those dollars go a long way to secure loyalty to advance an agenda, Kaplan said.
“That money that goes out to candidates down ballot, that can be a real advantage for a candidate like J.B. Pritzker,” Kaplan said.
While Pritzker has tens of millions on hand, mostly from his own wealth, Bailey has been getting financial backing from Uihlein.
“Typically the most money wins, but it’s always hard to tell whether it’s good candidates or competitive candidates who can attract a lot of money or whether it’s the money that actually makes them win,” Kaplan said.
One example Kaplan gives is from the Republican primary in June where billionaire Ken Griffin gave $52 million to failed gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin. Irvin came in third with Bailey, whose primary bid was supported with around $10 million from Uihlein, getting 57% in a six-way race.
Early voting is now underway for the Nov. 8 general election.
On the ballot for Illinois governor will be Pritzker, Bailey and Libertarian Scott Schluter. There were no records for the Friends of Scott Schluter fund available on the Illinois State Board of Elections website. When reached for comment, Schluter said has around $5,000 to $10,000 on hand and is seeking donors heading into the final weeks of the election but is finalizing campaign finance paperwork.
