Griffin’s $50 Million Illinois Governor Pick Is Running Behind
- Republican candidate backed by Citadel founder lags in polls
- Billionaire is moving firm to Miami after 30 years in Chicago
Richard Irvin speaks with employees during a factory tour in Wauconda, Illinois, on June 21.
Photographer: Sara Burnett/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
Billionaire Ken Griffin said in November he was “all in” to unseat Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and contributed $50 million toward that effort. Yet the Republican candidate he’s backing isn’t favored to win Tuesday’s primary.
Griffin’s pick, Richard Irvin -- the mayor of the second-largest city in Illinois -- has been slipping in local polls against state Senator Darren Bailey, a downstate conservative endorsed by former President Donald Trump. In one of the latest polls late last week by Ogden & Fry, 37.6% of respondents said they would support Bailey in the Republican primary, compared with 12.7% for Irvin.