2018 IL Governor's race: on Government Reform


Daniel Biss: Political system favors billionaires & machine politicians

State Sen. Daniel Biss formally announced his Democratic candidacy for governor, assailing a broken system he says favors his political opponents. "We have a political system where billionaires and machine politicians are the ones who are listened to. That's the system we have to change," Biss, who has represented Evanston for six years in legislature, said in a 25-minute Facebook Live video.

"We have to build a movement of the people because the question fundamentally is, 'Who do politicians feel obligated to listen to?' In Illinois, the public has set very low expectations and we can understand why," he said.

Biss' indictment of Illinois' system of government covered a wide swath, including not only Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner but also Democratic rivals for governor. Rauner dismissed Biss as "part of the system."

Source: Chicago Tribune on 2018 Illinois gubernatorial race Mar 20, 2017

  • The above quotations are from 2018 Illinois Gubernatorial race: debates and news coverage.
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Candidates and political leaders on Government Reform:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 11, 2018