CHICAGO (AP) — A San Francisco venture capitalist with nearly $11 million in campaign contributions became the latest Republican Thursday to announce a run for the chance to unseat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2022.
Jesse Sullivan, an Illinois native who founded Alter Global in San Francisco, released a campaign video portraying himself as an outsider who’ll fight to solve the state’s problems.
“This fight it will not stop, I promise you, until this era in Illinois of high taxes, crime, corruption comes to an end,” Sullivan, of Petersburg in central Illinois, says in the video.
Most of the 37-year-old’s campaign donations are from California contributors, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Other Republicans who’ve announced campaigns for the June primary are state Sen. Darren Bailey, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf and businessman Gary Rabine.
However, any candidate faces an uphill battle against Pritzker who’s seeking a second term and has $35 million for his campaign.
The heir to the Hyatt Hotel chain and multi-billionaire private equity investor was elected in 2018 after spending nearly $150 million of his own money. He ousted one-term Republican Bruce Rauner, a millionaire who spent $68 million of his personal fortune.
Pritzker told reporters Thursday that Republicans were “beating each other up” on the campaign trail.
“All I can say is that I’m focused on the issues that are really important to the people of Illinois,” he said at an unrelated event in Chicago.
