A record-setting amount of money is being spent in the Illinois primary, and the numbers keep climbing as Democratic gubernatorial candidate JB Pritzker has added another $7 million to his campaign's war chest.
Pritzker, who is self-funding his campaign, has now poured a total of $63 million of his own money into the race. That staggering number is nearly equal to the $66 million that President Donald Trump poured into his entire 2016 campaign.
The move by Pritzker to spend even more money ahead of the March 20 primary was met with criticism from State Senator Daniel Biss, who called the new spending "a new level of absurdity."
"He is trying to convince voters he is a regular guy who can relate to the struggles that middle class and working families endure," Biss said.
Biss also criticized Pritzker's spending as ineffective, citing his inability to "mobe out of the 30's in the polls."
Billionaire candidates spending big in Illinois elections is not new to this cycle, as Governor Bruce Rauner's political committee has donated more than $95 million since it was formed in 2013.
