Who wants to manage Illinois’ checkbook as the state faces growing financial uncertainty? Three state legislators and the treasurer of one of the state’s largest counties have raised their hand.
Incumbent Comptroller Susana Mendoza — who has first took office in 2016 in the middle of the state’s infamous two-year budget stalemate — is not seeking reelection. Her departure created the first open primary for the Democratic party for a statewide constitutional office since 2018.
The comptroller’s primary responsibility is ensuring the state’s bills are paid — a task that wasn’t always easy, but one that Mendoza has fine-tuned in recent years.
With Mendoza stepping aside, state Sen. Karina Villa of West Chicago, Rep. Margaret Croke of Chicago, Rep. Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, and Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim are running in the Democratic primary. Each sat down with Capitol News Illinois reporters in recent days to answer questions on our Capitol Cast podcast.
Bryan Drew, a Republican from southern Illinois, is running unopposed for his party’s nomination.
Who are the candidates
Kifowit is the longest tenured legislator of the group, having joined the General Assembly in 2013. She is leaning on her Marine Corps service and past career as a financial advisor to argue she is the most qualified candidate.
“In this race, individuals need an independent, knowledgeable, experienced person for this position, one that has the backbone like I do from being a United States Marine Corps veteran, and one that has life experience along with professional experience,” Kifowit told Capitol News Illinois.
Watch: Interview with Illinois Comptroller Candidate Stephanie Kifowit
She is facing an uphill battle in fundraising, however, as her campaign raised the least money of the candidates in the final quarter of 2025. Croke is leading the financial race thus far as the only candidate to raise at least $500,000 during that fundraising period.
Watch: Interview with Illinois Comptroller Candidate Margaret Croke
Croke has been in the legislature since 2021 and was previously a deputy director at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. She is a close ally of Gov. JB Pritzker and has received endorsements from several top Democrats, including the influential Cook County Democratic Party, but Pritzker has not been one of them.
“We all have seen bills pass, and we’ve seen bills blow up, and it’s because of your relationships or if you understand how to get these things done,” Croke told Capitol News Illinois. “So, I feel really confident about my ability to kind of steer the ship in the right direction.”
Croke narrowly won the support of the Cook County party over Villa, who is backed by Senate President Don Harmon and U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez as she tries to carve a lane as the most progressive anti-Trump candidate in the race. Villa has been in the legislature since 2019 but does not have a financial background — her career was in social work.
Watch: Interview with Illinois Comptroller Candidate Karina Villa
“This is the people’s money and a social worker who has this background, who has the understanding, who has spent all of this time in the General Assembly combing through the budget and understanding how, at times, in order to balance budgets, we have to actually cut service line items that are so critical for everyday people to make ends meet — the social worker being the comptroller makes the most sense,” Villa told Capitol News Illinois.
Kim has no legislative experience in Springfield but spent four years on the Mundelein Village Board and has served as treasurer in Lake County — Illinois’ 3rd largest county with more than 700,000 residents — since 2018. She boasts support from dozens of officials in local government and Democratic county chairs across the state.
Watch: Interview with Illinois Comptroller Candidate Holly Kim
“I’m in charge of billions of dollars,” Kim told Capitol News Illinois. “All the checks go out with my name on it, which means out of four people running, I’m already doing the comptroller job. I’m definitely going to be a fierce protector of people and their money.”
Budget philosophy
The comptroller does not directly deal with the legislative process of approving a budget, but the candidates had plenty of ideas on how the state should manage its finances.
Mendoza herself has been an outspoken supporter of boosting the “rainy day” fund and has continued to advocate for ways to increase its size. The fund’s $2.4 billion balance only funds about two weeks of state operations, and lawmakers suspended the monthly transfer to the fund this year to free up money for other priorities in a tight budget year.
“To continue to put money away for a rainy day when we’re in the middle of a tsunami, that’s not when we should be putting money away for a rainy day,” Villa said, adding “there’s no way to prioritize that in this budget.”
Raising revenue is the central focus of Villa’s campaign. She suggested the state implement a tax on digital advertising and retry implementing a graduated income tax raise more money for social services she said are inadequately funded. Such a measure needs approval from both lawmakers and the general public, but voters rejected soundly rejected the proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed it in 2020.
Read more: Comptroller candidates spar over taxes, experience in candidate forum
Kim took a similar approach and said the state’s budget goals during Donald Trump’s presidency should be focused on “maintaining” the state’s credit rating, which was upgraded 10 times between the three major rating agencies under Mendoza.
“I would advocate for not only the progressive tax to be brought up as a longer-term solution, especially with years of rocky finances headed our way with Trump still in government for the next, you know, three years,” Kim said.
Croke and Kifowit said they support reinstating regular funding for the rainy day fund.
“The comptroller’s role is very vital in managing the finances and prioritizing and making sure that we’re paying down our debt,” Kifowit said.
Kifowit said the rainy day fund should be increased to at least $5 billion. As the lead negotiator on pension reform for House Democrats, she also said that when bonds the state is currently repaying expire, she wants to dedicate those revenues to paying down pension debt. Pritzker has proposed a similar plan, but so far it hasn’t gained traction in the legislature.
Croke said she wants those revenues to go to the rainy day fund, and she suggested the state consider refinancing its pension debt.
“It all goes back to the credit rating: If we can increase our credit rating showing that we have financial stability, that we have those reserves and it helps us in the long term with our long-term borrowing, it’s something that we need to do,” she said.
Role of the office
Each candidate presented a different vision for how they will lead the office, with some saying they will use it to push policies in the General Assembly and others saying they will focus more on the comptroller’s administrative responsibilities.
Villa said many answers to problems in Illinois depend on the legislature, and the comptroller’s job should be “to bring attention to the fact that even though we are passing balanced budgets, we are missing a significant amount of money in order to fully fund the services that people need.”
Kifowit said the comptroller must balance legislative goals with administrative responsibilities. Her goals include creating a nonprofit division to make it easier for nonprofits to track funds they will receive from the state.
Croke said her main focus will be on administrative responsibilities.
“I hope that everyone running just wants to make sure that this office continues to work because when it breaks down, state government breaks down,” she said.
Kim said she wants to use the office to better connect with constituents about the office’s responsibilities.
“The problem is government doesn’t have really good, short explanation videos that are ‘snacks,’ and that’s where we all are right now,” she said. “And I think having more ‘snack’ videos of information of what’s in the comptroller’s office will help people to … trust government and understand through transparency in those explanation videos.”
Putting their mark on the office
Each Democrat complimented Mendoza’s work but listed off changes they would make.
Mendoza’s successor will have to be “nimble” to respond to constant federal uncertainty and be a “watchdog” over state finances to make sure the state isn’t overspending, Kifowit said. She added that among her initiatives will be opposing any pension system investments in artificial intelligence or cryptocurrency.
Upgrading the office’s technology is also a top priority for Croke and Kim.
“I’ve seen the software where you can follow appropriations within the budget and understand where taxpayer money is going,” Croke said. “And I think at this critical time when you have household budgets that are, you know, really tight, and then our state budget is getting very tight, people want to know how you’re using taxpayer money.”
Kim said she will also focus on increasing privacy protections for personal data.
Villa didn’t offer specifics about her initiatives beyond calling for new taxes, which is ultimately left up to the governor and legislature. She said the job can’t just be about paying bills on time.
Villa, Kim and Croke said they support keeping the office separate from the treasurer — the state’s chief investment officer — citing corruption problems in the office when the responsibilities were merged under one roof prior to the 1970 constitution. Kifowit, however, said she would be open to combining the offices if there were enough checks and balances to provide safeguards.
Capitol News Illinois reporters Brenden Moore and Peter Hancock contributed.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.