Politics: Following the Illinois Governor Race 2018

There are different reasons why I would do a political post at some times over another. Be on the lookout for them. I am thinking that if an episode is scheduled to air and doesn’t that I will put one of these in its place. I also might do them on Saturdays at times, but not always every Saturday. If the show gets renewed, I know that I’ll do these during the summer. It doesn’t matter when you’ll see it, just be on the lookout. There are other reasons too. But enough of this transferable introduction. Let’s get to the blog post.

Bruce Rauner is running for a second term as governor. He said that he would not run for a third term. But why give him a second? What has he done for the state? He refused to do a budget for a long time and the legislature had to override a veto of his to finally get one. Now he whines and complains about the tax increase the budget had. What are the alternatives?

Let’s start with the other Republicans in the race. A Republican is running against Bruce. And this guy has no experience, it seems. Another thing he doesn’t have is the money to buy his way into office like Bruce did. He originally picked a running mate who had left Illinois 20 years ago, so maybe he isn’t too smart. Only he isn’t the only Republican alternative to Bruce.

Jeanne Ives is a Republican in the race. I read more about her, but sadly, this source that was supposed to be neutral put her in a negative light. Still, these people might have a point since there is a lot wrong with her. There was an incident of slut shaming, it seems, which you would not expect from a woman. She holds elected office right now so she had more experience than Bruce did four years ago. But she seems like a Trump candidate in the race and we need to avoid a candidate like that having any sort of power. But is that really the case? It was a source that seemed too biased.

Switching to the Democrats in the race, a candidate is running for his second chance at being governor. That man is Tio Hardiman, who lost the primary to Pat Quinn back in 2014. He helped create CeaseFire or Cure Violence. I don’t know what political experience he has so I don’t know why he is running or what good he could do. I would not support him, although I might have in the last election. He didn’t stand a chance then when he ran then as he lost the primary and didn’t even seem to affect the primary, unlike Dan Hines in 2010. I don’t think that he stands a chance this time either.

Sometimes people might just keep running until they can win an election. This might be the case with Robert Marshall. He is a physician and that’s all I can get on him. If you are a person who has not held office before, you are probably not getting my vote for an office as high as governor. I made a mistake when I voted for Bruce Rauner (as did a majority of Illinoisans), but I won’t do that again unless I have no choice.

A random person somehow in the race is a correction officer by the name of Terry Getz. He has not submitted any signatures or even announced a running mate. This is yet another Democrat that I can’t find much information about. I’d be surprised if he is even on the ballot in March.

Let’s say that you don’t want to support a person from Chicago. Well you are in luck. Bob Daiber is from the Metro East. He is the regional superintendent of schools for Madison County. That does seem like a leadership type of job. He doesn’t have any political experience, though, by the looks of it. He is the only candidate in the race not from the Chicago area. But I’m not sure that I would vote for him unless my candidate is out of the race as I don’t think that he even stands a chance of getting elected.

There’s a candidate that I know very little about. And his name is Alex Paterakis. What I do know is that he doesn’t have the experience that I feel he should have as he has never held elective office. Look what Trump has done. At least he doesn’t have the money to simply buy his way into office like Rod Blagojevich did.

Speaking of people who could simply buy their way into office, J B Pritzker may just be another Bruce Rauner. We don’t need a Democratic Bruce Rauner in the race. But he might be the only candidate you know of that is in the race besides him. I wouldn’t not vote for him if he wins the primary. I just hope that I don’t get the change for sake of change thing would get me voting the wrong way a second time.

Yet another person in the race who has never held elective office before is Chris Kennedy. He is the nephew of John F Kennedy. I don’t know what else there is to say about him. In fact, his famous name might be the only reason he is in the race.

I’m saving the best for last here. Daniel Biss is the candidate that I support for governor. Why? Well, for one, he might be the most experienced candidate in the race. In fact, almost no one else has experience. I want someone who I know can do things. If you want to support a person who never held elective office, then you must not have been paying attention to the news cycle and what a president or the current governor without experience has been like. He also has a lot of good ideas and seems like the best choice in my mind.

Well, those are my thoughts on the Illinois race for governor. I urge everyone reading this who can vote in Illinois to choose a Democratic ballot and vote for Daniel Biss. If you can’t bring yourself to vote in that primary, then vote for Jeanne Ives in the Republican primary. I may do other updates on this race later. The primary in Illinois is on March 20^th, 2018 so be sure to vote if you live in this state.