Gov. Rauner ekes out victory over Jeanne Ives

March 21--Gov. Bruce Rauner narrowly defeated conservative challenger Rep. Jeanne Ives Tuesday night, avoiding what would have been one of the biggest upsets in state political history.

With just over 90 percent of the vote counted, Rauner had just under 52 percent of the vote to Ives' 48 percent. Only about 20,500 votes separated the candidates, out of more than 630,000 cast.

It was a much closer result than anyone anticipated last fall, when Ives, of Wheaton, decided to challenge Rauner by trying to appeal to the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Ives managed to make the race close even though she was heavily outspent by Rauner.

At 10:15 p.m., Rauner took to the stage at his Election Night party to declare victory. He alluded to the dissatisfaction among conservatives with his handling of two bills on abortion and immigration.

"For those of you around the state of Illinois who wanted to send me a message, let me be clear: I have heard you," Rauner said.

But Rauner urged Republicans to put their differences on those stances aside, summoning familiar campaign themes as he argued that he was the best candidate to address the "corruption" in Illinois and fight House Speaker Mike Madigan.

"The future of Illinois is on the ballot in November," he said.

"We know what (Democratic nominee J.B.) Pritzker and machine insiders want," he said.

Ives conceded the race around 10:30 p.m., talking about how she had been outspent heavily by Rauner and detailing several of the state's problems.

"Despite this defeat, I know the overwhelming majority of Illinoisans want change in Illinois," Ives said. "A day of reckoning is coming. The grassroots know it. And hopefully now our political leaders know it as well."

Springfield voters split on their support for either Ives or Rauner. Tim Schubert said he doesn't think either Ives or Rauner will win the general election, so he voted for Ives.

"If I'm going to go down, I'm going to do down with her rather than someone who's lied and betrayed half of what I wanted as a Republican to get the other half," he said.

Robert Schmitt, 49, said he voted for Rauner in 2014 and feels "tremendously let down."

"We just want this state to turn around," he said. "I don't think Jeanne Ives is the person, but I (also) think Bruce Rauner is not the person."

But Jill Gordon, 47, said she voted for Rauner, even though she isn't completely happy with him, particularly because of the two-year budget impasse that happened under his watch.

"He's the best of the two choices," she said. "Weighing them both, she's just a little more conservative than I am."

Last summer, it appeared no one would challenge the incumbent as he sought a second term. But in short order, Rauner signed a bill decried by conservatives as turning Illinois into a sanctuary state for undocumented immigrants.

The final straw, though, was when Rauner signed a bill providing expanded abortion coverage for Medicaid recipients and also extending abortion coverage to women covered by state employee health insurance. Rauner is the first governor in the country to provide that level of access.

Rauner filled out a questionnaire from an abortion rights group in 2014 indicating he would support a bill like that. However, in 2017, when the bill passed, Rauner told Republicans and pro-life groups that he would veto it. He ended up signing it into law.

It was shortly after that that Ives, a social and fiscal conservative, announced she was going to challenge Rauner in the primary.

Rauner alluded to those controversies in his Election Night speech.

For a while, Rauner virtually ignored Ives, focusing instead on running ads trying to damage J.B. Pritzker, the perceived frontrunner among the Democratic candidates for governor. In recent weeks, though, Rauner stopped airing the anti-Pritzker ads and started taking aim at Ives.

Rauner aired ads saying that Ives was the favorite Republican of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, someone Rauner holds responsible for most of the state's problems and his inability to pass key components of his agenda.

At a forum with Rauner at the Chicago Tribune editorial board, Ives said she would not eliminate last year's income tax hike all at once. She also said she would try to work with Madigan since he will remain in charge of the House. Rauner seized on those two statements to claim Ives was a Madigan lackey.

Rauner was roundly criticized for the ad because Ives staunchly opposes Madigan and his agenda. At the same time, Ives acknowledged at a news conference Monday that the ads were effective, particularly among downstate voters.

"It's so pathetic that this governor is counting on uninformed voters for his victory," Ives said.

Ives came under fire for her own advertising. The first ad she aired featured various people sarcastically thanking Rauner for supporting their causes. It included a man dressed in women's clothing thanking Rauner for allowing him to use women's bathrooms. Even many Republicans accused Ives of airing a racist and homophobic ad.

Ives followed with an ad implying that her first outing was deliberately controversial to draw attention to her campaign.

The campaign took an even odder turn in the last couple of weeks when the Democratic Governor's Association began airing ads promoting Ives. Rauner blasted the ads, saying it was proof the Democrats wanted to face Ives in the general election because they are convinced they will defeat her there. Rauner began airing counter ads saying the DGA ads were further proof that Madigan favors Ives.

Rauner has been dogged with criticism over his handling of repeated outbreaks of Legionnaire's disease at the Quincy veterans home. Rauner said the outbreaks, which led to several deaths, were handled according to protocol. Relatives of the victims, though, said they were often left in the dark about the condition of their loved ones and that the state was slow to recognize and deal with the problem.

Staff writers Brenden Moore and Maximilian Kwiatkowski contributed to this report. Contact Doug Finke: [email protected], 788-1527, twitter.com/dougfinkesjr.

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