GOP National Committeeman Porter "Thinking About" Run for Governor
Richard Porter, an attorney and Republican National Committeeman, is said to be considering a run for Governor.
Two candidates for Governor have officially thrown their hats in the ring, former State Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo and current Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), but most Republican insiders believe the field is far from set.
Following his announcement Monday, we asked many GOP operatives, party officials, and current and former elected Republicans what they thought of Bailey’s candidacy. As a follow up, I asked many of the same Republicans who they thought would be the GOP nominee. Most were non-committal or said the eventual nominee likely wasn’t in the race yet.
The two other top names? Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), who has openly said he is considering running, and Richard Porter. Porter, of suburban Northfield, is the Illinois National Committeeman on the Republican National Committee, and he confirmed to The Illinoize Thursday night he is “thinking about” a run for Governor next year.
He says while many consider Illinois a “blue” state, the failure of Pritzker’s graduated tax referendum shows a Republican can still win statewide in Illinois.
“Our results on his tax plan last year demonstrate that there’s a majority of people who are willing to vote against Democratic policies. They’re willing to vote against the Democratic regime and they’re looking for a change,” Porter said. “They rejected his signature program, that’s one step away from rejecting him.”
But he knows it won’t be easy.
“The challenge is he’s a billionaire,” Porter said. “One question you have to ask yourself is “how do you beat a billionaire? I think the first step is he’s got to beat himself, and I think he’s in the process of doing that. But, he’s still going to be able to drop $100, $150 million dollars into his candidacy and attacking whoever’s running against him. People in Illinois have to make a decision about him and decide he’s not the guy they want for Governor. And we’re pretty close to that, actually.”
We asked former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider for his feelings about Porter, who he considers a close friend.
Richard has been saying for years that he wants to make Illinois a place where people want to live again.
People leave Illinois because our government is obsessed with raising money to cover its financial failure instead of looking for ways to make our lives better. Our system is rigged so that the folks in government get a sweet deal and the rest of us are screwed.
Richard is a self-made kind of guy. He moved here from New York, paid his way through law school where he graduated at the top of his class. President George H.W. Bush brought him in to the Treasury Department and then the White House in senior positions before he was 30. He came back to Chicago in the early 1990’s and had a stellar career in law while remaining active helping the Republican cause and raised his family.
Richard was identified as one of the “elf’s” that Hillary Clinton called the vast right wing conspiracy. He’s represented Illinois on the RNC for 7 years and was my wing man while I was chairman. He’s an “out of the box” thinker and writes frequently for the Chicago Tribune and RealClearPolitics about Illinois.
Suburban businessman Gary Rabine has also told us he plans to enter the race in the next few weeks. While he is unknown to much of the state, former State Representative Cal Skinner, who runs the popular McHenry County Blog, praised Rabine’s story.
It is jobs, a topic that, when one gets outside of government, Democrats are not good at creating and indeed have proven good at eliminating.
Starting from scratch right out of high school paving driveways, Rabine's business has grown to where he could finance a TV campaign.
Not to the extent of Pritzker, but his networking with other business leaders--especially ones who create jobs, rather than just move money around--gives access to many potential contributors.
So, if you are unemployed and only have a high school degree, Rabine could be a role model. (Even now he is running entrepreneurial classes for Chicago teens.)
Rabine organized mass rallies for the Trump campaign in Woodstock and St. Charles with impressive speakers. Think David Clarke, the former black Sheriff of Milwaukee County and Todd Ricketts, the Finance Chairman of the RNC. Conservative activists from throughout the metropolitan area attended.
He also put together a Trump fundraiser on very short notice a couple of weeks before the election featuring Donald Trump, Jr.
Rabine also can speak personally about oppressive real estate taxes. His hometown (Woodstock) has an effective tax rate of 4% (that is, 4% of the value of homes are paid in taxes each year.) His office building in Schaumburg he has said is now worthless given the higher taxes the new Cook County Assessor has forced upon it.
I have not heard what he proposes to do about property taxes but he can certainly speak passionately about the subject.
As the way his candidacy was made known proves, however, Rabine needs help in figuring out how to run a campaign. Fortunately, there are experts for hire.
Some insiders also speculate a member of the Illinois congressional delegation could get in the race, specifically Congressman Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) or Darren LaHood (R-Dunlap), especially if one or both get drawn out of their current district in redistricting.
Porter says he’s planning to make a decision this summer.