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* As I told you the other day, Republican attorney general nominee Tom DeVore busted the contribution caps in the AG’s race with a $250,001 loan from himself. He filed the official Notification of Self-Funding paperwork today. DeVore hasn’t raised much money outside of the loan to himself.

* Darren Bailey’s running mate Stephanie Trussell held a press conference in Chicago yesterday. From WGN TV…

Trussell: JB Pritzker doesn’t care about Garfield Park. JB Pritzker doesn’t care about anyone suffering outside of his billionaire bubble.

Pritzker: That’s ludicrous. Since I came into office, in fact, I’ve been focused on lifting up those who’ve been left out and left behind. Let me be clear, it was Darren Bailey that voted against providing rent assistance or homeowners assistance during the worst parts of the pandemic. Darren Bailey, who voted against all of the assistance for small businesses during the pandemic.

When asked about abortion rights, Trussell said this…

People that are working hard every day to pay the increased gas prices, to pay the increased taxes. 114,000 people fled the great state of Illinois last year. That’s not an issue that most people are concerned about.

* Follow-up on Rep. Ford from Center Square…

A political ad airing on TV and online that is critical of Democrats’ policies is finding different interpretations among Democrats.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot last week criticized a political ad from People Who Play By The Rules PAC airing concerns about the Democrats’ policies on crime and punishment.

Lightfoot said the ad purposely darkened her skin color. […]

State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, told WIND radio host Dan Proft, who is the president of People Who Play By The Rules PAC, that Lightfoot’s position was offensive to darker skinned people like himself.

“You don’t come out against the color of your skin when it could really make that color be offended,” Ford said. “The color that you had her in is just a little shade darker than me.” […]

Lightfoot doubled down on her comments Monday and said she didn’t understand where Ford was coming from.

“I don’t even know what to say in response to that,” Lightfoot said. “If you’re not offended by that, I don’t know what to say to you.”

Ford is a possible mayoral candidate.

* Also from Center Square…

So far in August, Vote Yes for Workers Rights, which supports the labor amendment in front of voters this November, received $3.2 million from various labor unions.

* WCPT…

Joe Severino, the GOP nominee for Illinois’ 10th district House seat, has used social media in the past to falsely blame the Highland Park shooting on the town’s mayor.

After the massacre, Severino wrote a Facebook comment in a private group blaming Mayor Nancy Rotering (D) for the shooting at the town’s Fourth of July parade that killed seven people and injured dozens.

“Further, people are celebrating Mayor Rotering as a leader when she is indirectly responsible for the shooting,” Severino falsely claimed. “She was running against the shooters father and well aware of this family’s turmoil.”

There is no evidence that Rotering had any prior knowledge or tip that would have given her, or anyone else, prior knowledge of the shooter’s plan.

Severino is set to take on incumbent Rep. Brad Schneider (D) in the general election in November. Schneider’s campaign condemned the comments made in Severino’s Facebook post.

“Joe Severino’s misinformation around the Highland Park shooting is disgusting and has no place in our politics,” said Schneider’s campaign manager Matt Fried. “If he had a shred of decency, he would apologize to Mayor Rotering and the families of the victims whose memories he has sullied by lying about the tragedy and making common cause with conspiracy theorists.”

* More…

* Race for Illinois’ 13th congressional district

* GOP challenger for state treasurer visits Effingham

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 2:43 pm

Comments

==People that are working hard every day to pay the increased gas prices, to pay the increased taxes. 114,000 people fled the great state of Illinois last year. That’s not an issue that most people are concerned about.==

I suppose there’s not much else she could say, but just about every data point we have contradicts this.

Comment by Arsenal Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 2:46 pm
Joe Severino is a great explainer for Republicans curious about why the bottom fell out for them in the collar counties. That amount of cruelty combined with total detachment from reality is a bad way to win votes. The Lake County GOP is under new leadership, it will be fascinating to see if they deal with Severino differently than Mark Shaw would.

Comment by vern Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 2:55 pm
— Schneider’s campaign manager Matt Fried.—

Fried’s statement is a 1000x more forceful, crisp than the usual milk toast mush tomes that comes of Pritzker’s operation. JB should hire that guy.

Comment by King Louis XVI Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 2:58 pm
==“She was running against the shooters father and well aware of this family’s turmoil.”==

Wait, what?

Comment by So_Ill Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 3:22 pm
“JB should hire that guy.”

Pritzker is up by ~20 points.

His team ain’t doin’ half bad.

– MrJM

Comment by MisterJayEm Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 3:24 pm
Today’s Campaign Notebook should be Called Dumb Campaign Notebook. Some of these stories…goodness gracious.

Comment by New Day Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 3:30 pm
Every year I think- “This is the year the ILGOP hits rock bottom and will rebound”

It never is.

Comment by jimbo Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 3:36 pm
==Wait, what?==

The shooter’s father ran for mayor a few years ago.

Comment by Big Dipper Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 5:37 pm
$250k? Those lawsuits must have paid off for Tommy even if they did little for the clients.

Comment by Big Dipper Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 5:41 pm
Is Ford denying that Proft darkened the mayor’s skin tone? And that some political groups do so to play to racist tropes?

I get that Ford is proud of his skin tone, but that doesn’t mean Proft isn’t misrepresenting the mayor

Comment by Socially DIstant watcher Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 7:27 pm
Savarino, or someone related to his campaign, keeps reporting me to Facebook for hate speech whenever I copy and paste Severino’s actual opinions from his campaign website.

Severino also got super-upset when he appeared in a local moms group to campaign, told us that the Highland Park shooting was because of CRT and not assault weapons, and I proceeded to point out that his law degree was fake, his Harvard degree was fake, and his children’s charity might not be fake, but was definitely defunct.

But like, dude, if you or your own campaign staffers think that your positions are hate speech, maybe you should choose different positions. Just spit balling.

I realize he’s a complete random who ran in an uncontested seat that will obviously go Democrat. But it’s shameful that Illinois Republicans are willing to run a candidate like this in an actual election for the House of Representatives. And it SHAMEFUL that a major-party candidate for the US Congress can be so easily trolled by someone like me, just by repeating to him his own positions.

Comment by Suburban Mom Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 10:51 pm