illinois voters cast their ballots tuesday, nov. 8, 2016. | ap photo/charles rex arbogast by natasha korecki 11/09/16 01:39 am est chicago <u+2014> gov. bruce rauner lifted illinois republicans out of the <u+201c>super-minority<u+201d> in the illinois legislature on tuesday, helping his party pick up several seats in the house and two in the senate. but even as he revels at that victory, rauner lost a strong ally with the defeat of his hand-picked comptroller leslie munger. story continued below city clerk susana mendoza rode the wave of democratic voters in the city and suburban cook county to defeat munger. rauner had personally donated millions of dollars to munger. democrats remain in charge of both the senate and house, but no longer hold a veto-proof majority. the democrats<u+2019> hold in the house was never a true super majority, however, leading to questions over whether in the end all that much will really change in springfield, where gridlock has ruled since rauner<u+2019>s 2014 election. each side was spinning tuesday night<u+2019>s results. "rauner and his billionaire allies spent unprecedented millions <u+2014> outspending democratic candidates by wide margins <u+2014> to push their agenda of increasing profits for big corporations at the expense of middle-class families,<u+201d> house speaker mike madigan said in a statement. <u+201c>illinois residents want strong schools, funding for domestic violence shelters and veterans<u+2019> homes, and a strong middle class with good wages. i hope republicans will finally join us to protect these priorities and help deliver the services families are counting on.<u+201d> democrats noted that the biggest challenges happened downstate and in mchenry county, all typically republican areas. still, republicans held onto a house seat in chicago, despite a fierce attempt by democrats to oust longtime state rep. mike mcauliffe. <u+201c>the democrats spent millions and millions of dollars under their map, in a presidential year. get over it. you lost,<u+201d> illinois house minority leader jim durkin said in an interview tuesday night. <u+201c>this was not supposed to happen. we were not supposed to win seats, but we did because of fantastic organization and support with the state party, the governor, and i would say the best campaign structure i<u+2019>ve seen in years in all the districts.<u+201d> despite operating in a deep blue state where hillary clinton consistently topped donald trump in the polls, the illinois gop was on the offensive this year, shattering campaign spending records for legislative races as well as that for comptroller. it was a costly wager by rauner and his closest allies <u+2014> billionaire ken griffin and businessman richard uihlein. rauner and his wife diana spent upward of $32 million on the contests. democrats accused rauner of attempting to buy the election, but republicans said they were fighting an uphill battle against a fund-raising apparatus created over decades by madigan. to combat some of the republican spending this cycle, a democratic political action committee, lift <u+2014> leading illinois for tomorrow <u+2014> poured more than $8 million into radio and tv ads linking rauner to trump. rauner had said he would support the republican presidential nominee and while he didn<u+2019>t take questions about the race in recent weeks, he didn<u+2019>t back off his original statement. in his first legislative campaign battle since his election, rauner emerged as a gop boss. he managed to centralize his power not with traditional patronage, but by almost single-handedly funding the illinois republican party, bankrolling legislative races and punishing gop members who have stepped out of line. politico illinois previously reported the staggering rise of donations from individuals in this election cycle. university of illinois at springfield professor emeritus kent redfield calculated the top 10 individual illinois donors since 2005. in the 2005-08 cycle, the top 10 state donors accounted for $19 million in donations; in 2009-2012 they accounted for $13.6 million, and in 2013-16 the total is more than $127 million. the massive contributions meant lifting spending caps in races across the state. natasha korecki<u+2019>s must-read rundown of political news in the land of lincoln
rauner picks up several victories in legislative races
natasha korecki