Eye On Illinois: Brace for another onslaught of campaign advertisements in 2022

Apologies in advance, mail carriers and remote control jockeys, but busy season approaches.

Last week hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, speaking at a New York Times event, said “I am all in to support the candidate who will beat” Gov. JB Pritzker in 2022.

This is no idle threat from a multibillionaire who already spent roughly $100 million on political campaigns in Illinois. He was the primary funder for Bruce Rauner’s successful 2014 gubernatorial bid and his 2018 failed reelection – both eight-figure efforts. Griffin spent almost $60 million alone in 2020 to defeat both the income tax amendment and the retention campaign of former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride.

“He doesn’t deserve to be the governor of our state,” Griffin said, and while there are plenty of people who agree, it remains to be seen whether any of the four current Republican challengers check Griffin’s box as a “candidate who will beat” Pritzker or if he is hunting for someone else worthy of his considerable cash.

Anyone with a mailbox, TV, radio or any other device transmitting audio and visual messages well remembers the advertising onslaught of 2018 and 2020. Those seasonal efforts are like Black Friday for the industries that produce and deliver the messages – newspapers included – but there’s no denying the resentment they engender among the targets.

It’s not a one-sided complaint. Pritzker’s net worth is a fraction of Griffin’s, but it’s still north of $3 billion. The incumbent donated $35 million to his own campaign in the spring and spent $7 million in advertising alone heading into October.

But Pritzker’s bid for reelection has long been presumed, and it was clear he’d be the primary funder of his own effort. The intrigue lies with the GOP field and whether any will catch Griffin’s fancy.

Three long-term candidates have the smallest coffers: Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf announced in February and has less than $75,000 on hand. Gary Rabine, a McHenry County businessman, loaned himself about $250,000 to launch his campaign in March and had more than $415,000 to start October. State Sen. Darren Bailey, a downstate farmer who also launched in February, has pushed his funding to more than $1 million.

Jesse Sullivan, the tech entrepreneur who announced his campaign in September with $10 million, primarily from out-of-state business connections, hasn’t really grown the pot since.

Cash doesn’t vote any more than yard signs, but any candidate will need mega millions to wage a fair fight against Pritzker. Griffin’s money most certainly talks, but he didn’t get to be super rich through poor investments.

The two main questions presently are whom Griffin will back and if Democrats can successfully paint that person as a billionaire’s puppet.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.