What is Uihlein's End Game?
Billionaire conservative donor Richard Uihlein has now contributed over $30 million to an outside PAC spending against Governor JB Pritzker since the June primary.
Conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein has dropped another $13.9 million into the race for Governor, but it isn’t going to Darren Bailey’s paltry campaign.
Conservative operative and radio host Dan Proft’s “People Who Play By the Rules” PAC has received $33.9 million from Uihlein since the June primary, becoming the de facto Pritzker attack arm of the GOP. Uihlein has largely ignored Bailey, giving the GOP nominee $1 million since the primary. Uihlein funded Bailey’s campaign to the tune of $9 million leading up to the June primary.
Between the primary and general election, Uihlein has contributed around $50 million combined to the two committees.
“It’s a head scratcher,” said one longtime Republican insider. “Why give $34 million to a guy like Proft who has never flipped a seat? Honestly, I have no idea what the [Uihlein] is thinking.”
Though, while independent polling has shown Bailey trailing Pritzker between 15-20 points, one GOP operative says its likely Proft has convinced Uihlein the race is close.
“He’s likely convinced Uihlein its close, and it’s not hard for that audience to say ‘the polls are wrong, just like they were for Trump, we’re close, so let’s prove all the liberals wrong.’ Facts never matter when wooing Uihlein,” the operative said. “Tell him what he wants to hear, and Proft is happy to oblige.”
Another GOP insider said Bailey’s debate performance last week, where he overperformed expectations, may have inspired Uihlein.
“They think [the debate] is moving numbers, which it’s not,” the operative said. “They’re showing Uihlein bad polling which has Bailey in striking distance.”
A Proft-funded poll last month showed a five point race.
“Either they have some metrics that have convinced Uihlein they can beat Pritzker, or Dan Proft is the best salesman ever,” a conservative lawmaker said Monday. “I don’t think Uihlein would just waste $35 million.”
Through a spokesman, Uihlein declined to comment.
One surprising part of Uihlein’s financial commitments to an outside PAC instead of Bailey directly is that ad rates for non-candidate PAC’s are higher, sometimes twice as high, than the rates paid by candidate committees.
When asked for comment, Proft claimed to have negotiated lower ad rates (which an industry source disputes), then proceeded to launch into a personal attack.
"Patrick, you should really know what you're talking about when it comes to campaigns. You don't,” Proft said.
Another Republican operative questioned Proft’s track record of success.
“If only Dan Proft’s win-loss record matched his ego,” the operative said. “We’d be living in a red state by now.”