Bruce Rauner

Illinois is worth fighting for
Our state has been held back for decades by the same politicians that have only made government work for themselves, not for the people. We're working to enact reforms that shake up the broken status quo and return power to the people of Illinois.

The people of our state deserve a government that works for them instead of the politically-connected. With bipartisan reforms, we’ll grow good jobs, deliver value for taxpayers, give every child access to world-class schools, and enact term limits to get rid of career politicians. We’ll make Illinois a state where families and businesses thrive once again. Let’s get to work – because Illinois is worth fighting for.

Standing Up for Taxpayers
Hardworking Illinois taxpayers have been burdened for too long by career politicians who would rather spend your money than do the people's work. Mike Madigan's permanent 32 percent income tax hike hurts families and businesses. I've proposed a plan to roll back Madigan's tax hike and give Illinois families a $1 billion tax cut, keeping more money in your pocket and giving a boost to the state's economy.

For decades, special interests and political insiders controlled Illinois for their benefit and left taxpayers holding the bill. I want to make sure that taxpayers come first, and that state government delivers value for your hard-earned tax dollars. That’s why I was proud to veto Mike Madigan’s permanent 32 percent income tax hike and to have proposed a plan to roll it back with a $1 billion tax cut. And it’s why I’m fighting for lasting property tax relief by freezing property taxes and giving local communities more flexibility to control their costs and lower taxes. We’ve also saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by rooting out fraud, cutting wasteful spending in state operating costs, and negotiating innovative government contracts.

Criminal Justice Reform
Fixing a broken system takes time and consistent effort, which is why my administration is committed to creating lasting reform to address the systemic issues in our criminal justice system.

For too long, an ineffective and counterproductive criminal justice system plagued our state, tearing families apart and hurting communities of color. That’s why I worked to bring Republicans, Democrats, and law enforcement together to begin to fix it.

Unlike past Governors, my priority is on rehabilitation, not dangerous early release programs. In just the past two years, I’ve signed over two-dozen bipartisan criminal justice reform bills. We’re increasing access to job training and opportunities, giving offenders the tools to lead productive lives after they’ve served their time. We’re making the criminal justice system fairer because everyone, no matter their background, deserves to be treated equally before the law.

21st Century Jobs
Entrenched politicians have put a stranglehold on the Illinois economy. I am working to energize our state's economy, bringing in businesses and creating good-paying jobs.

Illinois’ central location, fertile agriculture lands, and world-class communities, combined with the best, hardest-working people in America means our state should be thriving. We have everything going for us except decades of crony politics and bad policy has held us back. I am working hard to make Illinois more competitive and to help create more good-paying jobs. That means working to lower the cost of doing business by reforming Illinois’ expensive workers compensation system, reining in out-of-control lawsuit abuse, and freezing property taxes. It also means modernizing Illinois’ economic development efforts so they move at the speed of business.

Even though the career politicians and special interests are trying to block these reforms, we’ve worked to bring thousands of new, good-paying jobs to Illinois.

We brought nearly 8,000 Amazon jobs to Joliet, Monee and Romeoville. We brought Rivian Automotive to Normal, where 1,500 jobs will be created. We brought Flex-N-Gate and hundreds of quality jobs to Chicago’s South Side. And with the Future Energy Jobs Act, we are now leading the Midwest in clean energy jobs and will continue to create thousands of new green energy jobs throughout the state in addition to saving thousands of jobs across Illinois.

Cleaning Up Government
Illinois' career politicians have forgotten the reason they were sent to Springfield: to represent the people of our state. We must enact real reforms to give power back to the people of Illinois - where it belongs.

Illinois’ political system is broken, and it’s going to take real reforms to fix it. Our state is controlled by a political machine and special interests who will do anything to protect the status quo. I’m working to clean up Springfield by getting rid of illegal patronage hires and implementing ethics reforms to stop the revolving door between lobbyists and government. Illinois voters deserve to choose their elected officials, not the other way around. That’s why I’m fighting for term limits and fair maps to make elections more competitive and ensure politicians are genuinely accountable to voters.

Improving Education
Every student in Illinois deserves an education that prepares them for success in college, their careers, and life. We need higher standards, effective funding, and more choice and control for parents and communities.

We’ve fully funded education for the first time in years, increasing K-12 education funding by $1.2 billion, and we brought early childhood education funding to historic levels. And this year, we signed a historic education reform law that provides tax credits for scholarship programs which gives educational choice to low-income families, provides more funding for school districts most in need, brings parity in funding for charter schools, and removes onerous state mandates to give local communities more control.^[3]

• Jobs:

On Rauner's campaign website, he outlined his plan to bring jobs to Illinois. Along with a complete overhaul of the current tax code, Rauner also planned to create "Right-to-Work" zones, enact tort reform, and reform the compensation system to make Illinois more competitive for workers from the Midwest.^[1] On the Right to Work issue, Rauner said, "What I’m a proponent of is allowing local governments in the state of Illinois — counties and municipalities — to decide for themselves whether to be Right to Work... For counties and municipalities that don’t want employee freedom, they can do that."^[5]

• Government Spending and Pension Reform:

If elected, Rauner stated that he would "audit every dime," and modify the current pension system.

On his campaign website, Rauner says he would make these changes to the state's pension system.

• "Ensure pay and benefits do not rise faster than the rate of inflation."
• "Eliminate the ability of government employees to receive massive pay raises before they retire just to increase their pension."
• "Cap the current system and move towards a defined contribution system."^[1]

• Government Reform + Term limits:

See also Illinois Term Limits for Legislators Amendment (2014)

Rauner would like to enforce an eight-year term limit for governors, and push for term limits for the Illinois legislature.^[1]

"We are the worst-run state in America with the most corrupt politicians in America...It’s time we dramatically shake up the system and get rid of these career politicians. We want regular, everyday people who are going into public service for the right reasons."^[6]

• Education:

If elected, Rauner promised he would implement penalties for teachers whose performance was not up to state standards and increase the percentage of education money spent on teachers and classroom technology while lessening the amount spent on administration.^[1]

• School choice:

"I’m a big believer that we need to empower parents with choice." "Too many children are trapped in failing schools, and if their parents don’t have sufficient income to choose a different school or move or fund private school, then they’re stuck." "Milwaukee has had a longstanding voucher program, and Indiana has put in place, I think, a very good voucher program."^[7]

• Tax extension:

"I’d veto it so fast it would make your head spin... We have got to reduce the tax burden on our economy, on homeowners, we’ve got to reduce the spending."^[8]

• Corporate incentives:

"We are a regulation heavy, restrictive, heavy bureaucracy state," Rauner said in a gubernatorial debate held in late February in Springfield. "We need to become pro-free enterprise and pro-growth again so we are stealing businesses back from Indiana rather than the other way around."^[9][3]