Chris Kennedy received the endorsement today of Lori E. Lightfoot, chair of the Police Accountability Task Force and leading advocate for police reform and accountability.
“Lori’s long been a champion of fairness and equality, and the city of Chicago is a better place because of her leadership. Lori fearlessly speaks truth to power and, with a government beholden to political insiders, her courage is critical to the future of Chicago,” Kennedy said. “We are so grateful for her endorsement of our grassroots campaign to bring fundamental change to Illinois.”
The campaign released a video endorsement from Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor and partner at a Chicago law firm, stating the following:
“They’re two men of tremendous integrity. I think their track record; their experiences really show and demonstrate that. They recognize that our state is fundamentally going in the wrong direction. As a resident of Chicago, where we’ve seen our violence escalate to 1990 levels, Chris is the only candidate who is talking about violence, obviously has a personal history with it, and understands the devastating ripple effects that violence can have on individuals, families and communities.
“Chris is really focused on the imbalance in our education funding and I think that’s critically important. When parents send their kids to school, they have a lot of expectations. Of course, they want their kids to learn, they want their kids to be safe, and they have the right to expect that their tax dollars will be used in a way that when their kids matriculate through high school, they’re going to be ready to take on the challenges of adulthood, starting with either going on to college, getting into a trade or having some other kind of job that they can build a life around.
“That’s not what’s happening in Illinois. Chris gets that, he understands it, and he’s willing to take on the fight to change that around for families across the state.
“I’m proud to be support Chris Kennedy and Ra Joy. They have the right vision, the right voice, and I’m an enthusiastic supporter.”
Today, the Northwestern Illinois Building Trades (NWIBT) endorsed JB Pritzker for Governor. NWIBT represents over 15,000 workers in the building trades throughout Northwestern Illinois. JB and Juliana were endorsed with a unanimous vote of the member locals.
“The Northwestern Illinois Building Trades are proud to stand with JB Pritzker and Juliana Stratton,” said Northwestern Illinois Building Trades President Alan Golden. “JB and Juliana stand for working people in Illinois, and they are fighting for every community in our state. Their tireless commitment to growing jobs, protecting the prevailing wage, and fighting for collective bargaining rights best reflect the priorities and values of our membership. We hope Illinois can come together in solidarity with their campaign and make sure JB and Juliana beat Bruce Rauner and win in 2018.”
“I am so proud to receive the endorsement of the Northwestern Illinois Building Trades and the hardworking Illinois families they represent,” said JB Pritzker. “Together, we will grow the economy, guarantee the right to collectively bargain, and fight for project labor agreements in Illinois. Now more than ever, we must stand up for our shared values and the working families under assault by Bruce Rauner’s special interest agenda. I’m humbled to have the endorsement of NWIBT, and the working families it represents will always have a seat at the table when I’m governor.”
* And another colleague recently endorsed Biss…
Illinois State Senator and Democratic candidate for governor Daniel Biss announced today that Senator John Mulroe has endorsed his campaign.
“Daniel is the only candidate with the vision, experience, and grassroots support needed to build a state that supports middle-class and working families,” said John Mulroe. “As we’ve worked together to build a fair tax system and resist Bruce Rauner’s destructive cuts, I’ve seen Daniel’s progressive values in action.
“Whether he’s creating a first-of-its-kind retirement savings program or protecting consumers from misuse of personal data, Daniel is known for examining every facet of the issue at hand, engaging key advocacy groups, and organizing our colleagues to bring about long-term change. It’s been a pleasure to collaborate in the legislature, and I look forward to supporting Daniel on the campaign trail and when he’s governor.”
“It’s an honor to receive John Mulroe’s endorsement,” said Daniel Biss. “Combining a keen understanding of the needs of working families with an unwavering belief in government as a force for good, John has been a steadfast advocate for progressive reforms and a key fighter against Rauner’s destructive agenda. I’m grateful to have such a determined and solution-oriented ally in the Senate and on the campaign trail.”
Today’s announcement about Sen. Mulroe is the latest in a series of endorsements by several elected officials and organizations who have joined Daniel Biss’ campaign in fighting for progressive values in Illinois. See the full list of endorsements here.
The incumbent Republican replayed many of his greatest hits from his 2014 campaign during his two stops in Decatur and Champaign on Monday, but he struggled to defend his own record on job growth since he took office.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show Illinois ranked 48th in job growth nationwide between September 2016 and September 2017. Only two states ranked lower during that stretch and they lost jobs.
Rauner acknowledge the state’s economic troubles, but said the problem predates his tenure.
“I could say that we have added 150,000 new jobs since I became governor,” Rauner said of his first three years in office. That figure doesn’t match seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which list new jobs in Illinois at 119,000 since January of 2015.
Rauner’s campaign later replied to our request for clarification via email saying his jobs figure was only meant as a rough estimate, and pointed out that the official federal numbers don’t account for non-seasonally adjusted data.
* Meanwhile, IWT has been giving the governor a lot of grief for this comment…
People say, well, we didn’t have a budget for two years, that caused a problem. That’s not the case.
What’s happened is 35 years of deficits has caused our problems.
And so he fixed that by… doing what, exactly? He took an admittedly bad situation and turned it into a disaster for more than two solid years. You don’t fix a structural budget problem by piling on more debt and close to a billion dollars in interest on backlogged bills.
Today, the Biss campaign released a new video encouraging voters to hold Democratic candidates to the same standard to which they held Donald Trump and demand that J.B. Pritzker fulfill the pledge he made seven months ago to release his income tax returns.
The video highlights the similar excuses Donald Trump and JB Pritzker have given to reporters and individuals alike who ask about releasing their tax returns. Both billionaire businessmen argue that it is “complex.”
“No Democratic candidate for governor should be in the same sentence as Donald Trump when it comes to accountability and transparency. How can you credibly promise to lead the resistance to Trump when you mimic his billionaire ways,” said Biss campaign manager Abby Witt. “Illinois voters deserve a governor they can trust to fight for the middle class—not another billionaire who can’t keep his promises.”
