The Chicago Bears stadium saga sucked all the air out of the Statehouse this spring, but lawmakers still weren’t able to get a final product through both chambers before the General Assembly adjourned early Monday.

The Republican Darren Bailey campaign for Governor Tuesday took the extraordinary step of directly challenging a third party or independent candidate’s attempts to get on the November ballot.

Governor JB Pritzker and Democratic lawmakers wanted to tout a balanced budget, with $800 million in tax increases and fee swaps to close the gap.

Democrats in the General Assembly advanced a $56 billion spending plan early Monday that includes some $900 million dollars in tax increases and fund sweeps to close the budget hole for the FY2027 budget, which begins July 1.

Like a last second Hail Mary pass floating through the air giving momentary hope of an unlikely victory, Democrats seemed poised for a while early Monday morning to scrap, debate, write, and pass a new bill aimed at keeping the Chicago Bears in Illinois in around 30 hours.

Democrats released a 3,500 page Fiscal Year 2027 spending plan around 9pm Saturday night in anticipation of supermajority Democrat passage of the new budget before the scheduled adjournment of the spring legislative session tonight.