State Rep. Jeanne Ives will challenge Gov. Bruce Rauner in next year’s Republican Primary. She cites disagreements with the incumbent on a range of issues.
“Governor Rauner is responsible for the 32 percent tax increase," she said. "He failed to hold Republicans together, and he budgeted for such as well. His proposed budget actually spent more money than the passed budget by the Democrats.”
Ives was referring to this summer’s end of the budget impasse, when more than a dozen Republicans broke with Rauner to help Democrats pass a tax increase.
Ives also said Rauner betrayed the Republican party when he signed a law that allows for public money to help pay for abortions in Illinois.
Ives would not say how much she wants to raise to compete with Rauner’s more than $65 million campaign war chest.
"Rauner is going to spend a lot of money paying high-priced consultants to try and tell people that he’s somebody who he is not," she said.
Rauner dismissed Ives as a “fringe element" and would not commit to debating her.
