By Sam Wood
SPRINGFIELD – A downstate Illinois senator is making an already dramatic race for governor even more interesting.
State Sen. Sam McCann (R-Plainview) announced his plan Thursday to challenge Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democratic nominee J.B. Pritzker in November’s general election as the Conservative Party nominee. His running mate is Riverton resident Aaron Merreighn.
McCann – first elected to the state senate in 2010 – represents a senate district that includes wide swaths of west-central Illinois encompassing all or parts of nine counties.
In a nearly three-minute campaign video, McCann took aim at Rauner and Chicago Democrats saying they have led the state “down the wrong path.”
Rauner and other Illinois Republicans didn’t waste time attacking the 48-year-old lawmaker.
“Sam McCann is the worst kind of political opportunist who is only running for Governor to line his own pockets,” said Rauner campaign spokesman Will Allison.
Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot also chimed in.
“McCann is jumping into the governor’s race to play the part of spoiler, hoping to cash in along the way and maybe land a lucrative appointment from Pritzker or [Illinois Speaker of the House] Michael Madigan after the election,” DeGroot said in a statement.
The Pritzker campaign took a noticeably different tone to McCann’s announcement.
“I welcome another voice to the race for governor at this critical time for our state,” Pritzker said in a campaign release.
Illinois Senate Minority Leader and Bloomington Republican Bill Brady also had harsh words for McCann.
“The Illinois Republican Party didn’t leave Sam McCann,” Brady tweeted Thursday. “He left the Republican Party with his lockstep votes to support Mike Madigan’s agenda of unbalanced budgets and putting the interests of public sector unions ahead of Illinois taxpayers.”
Brady’s office also announced that McCann submitted his resignation from the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus on Thursday.
McCann still needs to collect 25,000 signatures to get on the ballot in November.
“That requires a lot of organization and a lot of effort,” said University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor Christopher Mooney.
“Not just the ability to say some stuff at a press conference.”
Mooney told WJBC’s Sam Wood that this makes a bad situation worse for the governor.
“He’s already the third-least popular governor in the country…and he just barely beat a virtually unknown, fringe candidate in the primary,” Mooney said, referring to State Rep. Jeanne Ives’ unsuccessful primary bid in March.
“[The Rauner campaign] should be worried about a whole bunch of stuff right now and I’m sure they are,” Mooney added.
