'Powerful conservative couple' donates big money to Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey
CHICAGO - It's a big, seven-figure boost for the campaign war chest of Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey, now a candidate for governor in the June primary election.
Sources tell FOX 32 News Bailey will get a big donation from a local business family known for backing conservative causes.
The New York Times once called them "the most powerful conservative couple you’ve never heard of." State Senator Darren Bailey will be the latest conservative candidate to benefit from contributions by Dick and Liz Uihlein of north suburban Lake Forest. They have made a huge fortune with the packing supply company they founded more than 40 years ago and that they moved a few yards across the state line into Wisconsin, in part they've said because of Illinois taxes.
Backing Bailey will put them at odds with Illinois’ richest billionaire, Ken Griffin, who's given $20 million to the Republican campaign for governor of Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin.
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Four years ago, the Uihleins gave a lot of money to the insurgent campaign of Jeanne Ives, a west suburban activist and former state lawmaker who came within a whisker of defeating then-incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner. The primary battle wounded Rauner and he later lost in a landslide to Democratic billionaire JB Pritzker.
Pritzker's already given tens of millions of dollars to his own campaign, underscoring the likelihood that this year's electoral contest could become the most expensive ever in Illinois history.
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