Minutes after Illinois polls closed Tuesday night, Treasurer Dan Rutherford conceded the GOP nomination for governor.
"To all my friends throughout the state of Illinois, I say thank you. Thank you very, very much for all your help and support," Rutherford said. "And you know what, Dan Rutherford is not going away. I'm going to be back. There is no question I'm going to be back."
The short concession speech took place in Pontiac around 7:15 p.m.
After brief remarks from running mate Steve Kim, Rutherford told reporters that in all of his years in private life and public office he had never faced allegations like the ones that surfaced in recent weeks in this campaign.
"They were horrible for my family, my staff, my staff's family," he said.
Earlier this year, Rutherford was accused by a former employee of sexual harassment and performing campaign duties on state time. Rutherford denied those allegations and said his office would not publicly release an investigation into the claims.
Rutherford ran against Bruce Rauner, Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard for the nomination.
