Another candidate is complicating Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s reelection campaign.
Thursday, state Senator Sam McCann, a Republican from Plainview, announced a third-party bid for the state’s top office.
McCann and Rauner have a history. They've long clashed over state employee labor unions, which McCann supports and Rauner opposes. That led Rauner to back a primary challenger against McCann a couple years ago.
Now, McCann will be running this fall as a Conservative Party candidate — after Rauner narrowly won the Republican primary over a more conservative challenger.
“Get ready, governor. Bring it on. I look forward to debating you and I look forward to talking about your failed governorship. the failure that you brought to Illinois. … The state is worse off than when you took office 3 ½ years ago. But I’m prepared to fix your mistakes."
Rauner’s campaign issued a statement calling McCann “the worst kind of political opportunist.”
But Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker welcomed him to the race.
