Several news outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, are reporting that Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin will join the Republican gubernatorial primary contest as early as Monday, with State Rep. Avery Bourne of Morrisonville as his running mate for lieutenant governor.
If so, Irvin would join a field that already includes State Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia and former State Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, and businessmen Gary Rabine of Woodstock and Petersburg native Jesse Sullivan.
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Irvin most likely would have the backing of Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel financial group and a political rival of Gov JB Pritzker. Pritzker announced his reelection bid in July and made a $90 million contribution to his campaign reflected by filings on the Illinois State Board of Elections website.
A hedge fund billionaire, Griffin had pledged to go "all in" to support a candidate against Pritzker.
Bourne, who at 22 became the youngest legislator to be sworn in to the Illinois General Assembly when she took office in 2015, has not publicly announced her plans for the 2022 election.
Bourne took Wayne Rosenthal’s 95th district seat in the House when he left to become director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources under Gov. Bruce Rauner. Bourne was then a first-year student at Washington University School of Law.
The 95th district includes Montgomery County as well as portions of Christian, Macoupin and Madison counties. Bourne lives in the newly drawn 108th district, which now includes the western and southern parts of Sangamon County, as well as part of Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin and Madison counties.
Bourne interned for U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, during his 2014 campaign. Bourne is married to Davis spokesman Aaron DeGroot.
Bourne didn’t immediately return a phone call from The State Journal-Register.
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Irvin was elected as Aurora’s first Black mayor in 2017. If Irvin secures the nomination, he would be the first Black gubernatorial nominee from either major party in the state’s history.
The Illinoize website reported that Irvin, 51, would likely make an announcement via video as early as Monday, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Griffin spent just over $53.7 million in the 2020 campaign against a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the state to implement a graduated income tax.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
