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| RAUNER: Will we relive 2018 GOP primary? |
Well,
guess what! It seems we’re going to get a replay, of sorts, come 2020. Or at
least those people who live in the Illinois 6th Congressional district
will.
THOSE
ARE THE people of suburban DuPage County who for many years were represented in
Congress by Henry Hyde, and whose district was considered the very base of the
Republican Party in Illinois.
But
as one of the ultimate bits of evidence that the Illinois GOP is not really the
“Party of Lincoln” of tradition any longer, the district picked Sean Casten, a Democrat, to
be their Congressman in last year’s election.
Which
means Republicans are viewing dumping Casten from office as one of their
political priorities, and the list of people willing to use the Republican
banner to campaign on is developing.
Rauner’s
lieutenant governor running mate, Evelyn Sanguinetti, already has expressed interest
in the post. She’s a Wheaton native who once served on the City Council, prior
to Rauner tapping her as his potential backup – had something happened to him
while in office.
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| IVES: Rehashing Rauner trashing? |
WHICH
COULD TURN out to be the campaign where Sanguinetti goes out of her way to
claim that Rauner was never fully appreciated by Illinoisans – and how her political
victory could be a sign of redemption.
So
perhaps it is all too appropriate that Sanguinetti has a primary election
challenger she will have to beat before she can get to campaigning against Casten.
It’s
none other than Jeanne Ives herself – the woman who repeatedly bashed about Rauner
and claimed he was way too liberal for Illinois. Even though the bulk of Illinois
voters ultimately voted for governor in ways indicating hey thought she was too
conservative for our state.
Does
this mean the congressional primary next year will wind up as a replay of the
Republican gubernatorial primary? Even though now Ives’ operatives are
circulating a poll trying to figure out how she’d stand up against Casten in a
general election.
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| SANGUINETTI: Defending her former superior? |
ARE
WE GOING to hear a defense of The Rauner Years from Sanguinetti, countered with
constant repeats of the Rauner bashing that Ives engaged in last year – with constant
reminders that Sanguinetti is little more than a Rauner lackey?
Will
Ives think that using the 2020 primary to try to beat Rauner’s running mate is
a way of rewriting history – creating the perception that SHE was the real
winner in the long run?
I’m
sure Sanguinetti backers (are their any?) will try to claim she’s an
independent persona in her own right. But her lieutenant governorship was very
low key – as are most lieutenant governors. She’s not going to have a lot of
independent government achievements to tout.
Making
it far too easy for her to be dubbed as Rauner-lite by Ives. Who herself will
easily be tagged with a label of just another ideological loon who can’t accept
the fact that the majority of Illinois thinks she’s wrong!
THERE
IS ONE positive to the idea of a Sanguinetti/Ives matchup in the Illinois 6th
Republican primary – this will be limited to the land of DuPage, rather than
the entirety of Illinois as was last year’s gubernatorial primary.
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| CASTEN: An easier-than-expected re-election in 2020? |
We
won’t all be subjected to the rounds of nonsense rhetoric a second time. Then
again, I suspect the overwhelming majority of Cook County (which accounts for
nearly half of Illinois’ population) voters focused on the Democratic primary and
didn’t pay much attention to Rauner/Ives to begin with.
Which
could make Sean Casten, a resident of suburban Downers Grove, the ultimate winner.
The
Sanguinetti/Ives primary could get so vicious rhetorically that they beat each
other silly. Leaving each other all bloodied politically to the point that
Casten doesn’t get anywhere near as intense a challenge for his re-election as
Republican political operatives dream of giving him next year.
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