{"id":1507244,"date":"2022-06-08T05:04:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T09:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1507244"},"modified":"2022-06-08T05:04:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T09:04:49","slug":"dems-go-all-in-to-defeat-black-veteran-in-gop-gubernatorial-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-go-all-in-to-defeat-black-veteran-in-gop-gubernatorial-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Go All In To Defeat Black Veteran in GOP Gubernatorial Primary"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdems-go-all-in-to-defeat-black-veteran-in-gop-gubernatorial-primary%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1507244&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Pritzker, allies on track to spend staggering $32 million to sink Richard Irvin<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tIllinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin (www.irvinbourne.com)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 June 8, 2022 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Multibillionaire Democratic Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker and his allies are spending tens of millions of dollars to stop a black Republican veteran from challenging the incumbent in November.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the last five weeks alone, Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) have dropped more than $12 million on TV ads meant to sink Republican Richard Irvin, an Army veteran who became Aurora, Ill.&#8217;s first black mayor in 2017\u2014and to elevate his Republican primary opponent, state lawmaker Darren Bailey. Those ads attack Irvin&#8217;s record as a defense attorney and call Bailey &#8220;too conservative for Illinois,&#8221; an attack intended to boost him in the June GOP primary. With digital ads factored in, Democrats are on pace to spend a total of $32 million on similar spots before the primary&#8217;s conclusion, ad spending data obtained by the <\/span><span><i>Washington Free Beacon<\/i><\/span><span> show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The massive spending shows just how much Pritzker fears a general election fight against Irvin, who was raised by a single mother in Aurora&#8217;s housing projects. The DGA started its anti-Irvin assault in March, just days after a <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/illinois-playbook\/2022\/03\/22\/trying-to-shut-the-door-on-supply-chain-problem-00019154\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tulchin Research poll<\/a><\/span><span> showed Pritzker trailing the Republican mayor in the state&#8217;s all-important suburbs. Months later, during a May candidate forum, fellow Republican gubernatorial hopeful Paul Schimpf said it&#8217;s &#8220;no secret that the Democrats recognize that Darren [Bailey] is the easiest opponent for J.B. Pritzker in the general election.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Many Illinois Republicans have criticized Pritzker&#8217;s attempts to meddle in the Republican primary. In March, for example, state House Republican leader Jim Durkin called on the governor to condemn the DGA&#8217;s &#8220;obvious effort to hijack the Republican primary election.&#8221; Bailey, however, has welcomed the boost from his political enemies\u2014during an April <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/crainschicago\/videos\/365254038881003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview<\/a><\/span><span>, the Republican said he &#8220;dig[s]&#8221; the DGA&#8217;s ads, which he called &#8220;beautiful.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Neither Pritzker nor the DGA returned requests for comment. Pritzker, a multibillionaire whose family owns the Hyatt hotel chain, has contributed more than $3 million to the DGA since 2017 and sent the group $250,000 in December, campaign finance records show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This is far from the first time Democrats have spent big to elevate their preferred candidate in a Republican gubernatorial primary, but it may be the most significant. Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro spent nearly $1 million on ads that called Republican state lawmaker Doug Mastriano &#8220;one of Donald Trump&#8217;s biggest supporters.&#8221; The ads elevated Mastriano on the right, and after the Republican defeated his primary opponents, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party called him &#8220;the most dangerous gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania history.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Still, that effort dwarfs in comparison to Democrats&#8217; campaign to sink Irvin in Illinois. Prtizker has spent roughly $3.3 million on anti-Irvin ads since Memorial Day, while the DGA has spent $9.1 million since the first week of May, according to ad buy records reviewed by the <\/span><span><i>Free Beacon<\/i><\/span><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As a blue-state incumbent with an <\/span><span><a href=\"http:\/\/illinoissunshine.org\/committees\/jb-for-governor-32762\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$88 million war chest<\/a><\/span><span>, Pritzker should be a shoo-in for reelection come November. But the Democrat will have to navigate a treacherous political environment for his party, which has seen President Joe Biden rapidly lose his political standing in Illinois. Just 41 percent of the state&#8217;s voters approve of Biden, while 49 percent disapprove, according to <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/civiqs.com\/results\/approve_president_biden?uncertainty=true&#038;annotations=true&#038;zoomIn=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Civiqs<\/a><\/span><span>. Biden carried Illinois by a whopping 17 points in 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Irvin must emerge from a crowded primary race to face Pritzker in November. In addition to Bailey and Schimpf, the Republican mayor&#8217;s prominent primary opponents include businessman Gary Rabine and venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan, who once <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/meet-the-republican-gubernatorial-candidate-who-founded-a-left-wing-social-justice-magazine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">founded<\/a><\/span><span> a self-described &#8220;social justice&#8221; magazine. Illinois Republican voters will choose the party&#8217;s gubernatorial nominee on June 28.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Pritzker, allies on track to spend staggering $32 million to sink Richard Irvin  Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin (www.irvinbourne.com)  Collin Anderson \u2022 June<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}