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Nov. 9 was an election day that brought sweeping changes across the country, and in the state of Illinois a new governor. Bruce Rauner was elected to become the next governor of Illinois after defeating Democratic candidate Quinn in the gubernatorial election.
Quinn was in the midst of running for his third term in office and ran a campaign focused on turning out the Democratic base in the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.
For Quinn however, the voting bloc of Democratic voters that kept him in office in 2010 failed to come out in force as they had previously.
In 2010 Quinn captured over 46.79% of the vote, enough to snatch victory away from Republican opponent Bill Brady who only captured 45.9% of the vote.
The 2010 election was a tight race, but was won by Quinn who was able to gain votes from women within the suburbs of Chicago.
In 2014 however Quinn failed to capture the significant numbers of female voters that he had in 2010.
Republican candidate and governor-elect Bruce Rauner was able to gain the critical 20% of the vote from Cook County, a stat heralded to be the key to a Rauner victory.
The victory on Tuesday by Rauner was considered to be by many pundits a reflection of the large disapproval rating the state of Illinois had towards incumbent governor Quinn.
Rauner was in the eyes of some people the option that meant change in some way shape or form.
Rachael Van Etten a voter on Tuesday said, “Rauner offers something different than what we have seen in this state the past couple years. At this point any change is good and I am happy with my decision to vote for Rauner.”
Van Etten shared a sentiment many voters had who narrowly elected Rauner into office.
The good news for Illinois Republicans however ended in the gubernatorial election as the state democrats held unto their Democratic super majority in the state congress.
With a super majority in place still in the state legislature it will be difficult for the governor elect Rauner to make a push towards some of the reforms he has promised during his campaign such as term limits, new service taxes, and further changes to the Illinois tax code.
One certainty however will be the decrease in the states 5% income tax which was levied by Governor Quinn to help pay for the state’s fiscal shortcomings.
Rauner who will take office this January has made it apparent he will not keep the so-called “Quinn Tax” and a more fearful Illinois state legislature will most likely not push to keep the 5% income tax rate either.
This decrease will most likely appeal to many Illinois citizens, however ramifications for the decrease of tax revenue is unknown yet.
The role of a lame duck governor provides challenges to Quinn as well who now will have to attempt to run the state knowing that come January he will be out of office.
It remains to be seen if Quinn will continue to push for a minimum wage increase before Rauner takes office, however an increase in the state’s minimum wage seems inevitable based on Rauner’s recent campaign rhetoric.
Rauner when speaking after winning the gubernatorial race mentioned a desire to raise the minimum wage during his time as governor if business reforms were conceded as well.
A non-binding poll on election day regarding the minimum wage increase showed that the overwhelming majority of the state supports an increase, 67% to be exact.
Change is coming to Illinois but it remains to be seen just how drastic it will be, but for Van Etten it is welcome.
“I just want to see something change in this state, I don’t care what it takes we just need things to improve here before it’s too late.” as said by Van Etten.
Jake Alleruzzo
Senior News Editor
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