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Lisa Madigan Not Running For Governor

Attorney General Lisa Madigan
flickr.com/jrockefelleriv

After months of speculation that Gov. Pat Quinn would face a primary challenge from Lisa Madigan, the Attorney General announced Monday she would not run for governor.

Madigan says she will seek a fourth term instead of challenging Quinn for the Democratic nomination.

In a statement, she says deciding her political future has not been easy. In a nod to Quinn's poor favorability rating in polls — and frequent criticism from within his party — Madigan write she considering running because "of the need for effective management from that office and the frustration so many of us feel about the current lack of progress on critical issues facing Illinois."

But in the end, it came down to her father: longtime Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan. The Attorney General says that with her father planning to continue in that office, she will not run for governor.

She writes that the "state would not be well served by having a governor and speaker of the house from the same family."

Madigan has been under scrutiny since revelations last week that he allegedly tried using his political clout to force the suburban rail agency Metra to give one of his — and his daughter's — campaign contributors a raise.

Lisa Madigan's decision to run again for attorney general will cause waves among various politicians who'd been hoping to run for that office.

Quinn could still face a primary challenge from Bill Daley.

Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
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