Candidates looking to run in the March primary began filing their paperwork today (11/25) with the State Board of Elections. Anyone who was in line by 8 a.m. gets a chance at the top spot on the ballot. Six men who want to be Illinois' next governor made that deadline.
Campaigns waited in a long line, despite a forecast of snow, so that they could get their petitions in. Some candidates send staffers as surrogates, including Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and one of his four Republican challengers, Bruce Rauner.
Another Republican, Treasurer Dan Rutherford, sent his lieutenant governor candidate in his stead. But other candidates for governor went themselves, including GOP Sen. Kirk Dillard, of Hinsdale.
"We are so grateful to everybody that signed our petition and passed our petition in all of the counties of Illinois," he says.
GOP Senator Bill Brady of Bloomington, said he arrived at 7:15 a.m.
"It's strategic, you want to have your name first on the ballot," he sayd. "But it's also tradition.”
A little-heard-from Democratic challenger, former Ceasefire program director Tio Hardiman of Chicago, also filed his own petitions.
"I'm more than confident that we have more than enough signatures to secure our place on the ballot, totally confident," he says.
It's not expected anyone else will run for governor, but candidates can file through Dec. 2.
