A new political action committee, Leading Illinois for Tomorrow, released a television and digitial ad Tuesday that looks to tie Gov. Bruce Rauner to divisive statements made by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The ad uses clips of Trump making inflammatory statements about women, immigrants and the disabled that are interspersed with a clip of Rauner telling reporters in March, “I will support the Republican Party’s nominee for president.”
The 30-second spot concludes with a narrator asking, “If Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republicans support Donald Trump after all that, why would we support them?”
According to the group, LIFT was formed to demonstrate that "democracy is not for sale to the highest bidder” and to combat a "radical Republican agenda.” The group is using the ad “to counter an onslaught of campaign spending by Governor Bruce Rauner and his wealthy allies on behalf of GOP candidates.”
“The purpose of LIFT is to explain the stark choice voters will be presented with this fall,” LIFT Chairman and state Sen. Daniel Biss said in a statement. “Illinois has serious problems, but Rauner and the Republicans are making them worse. For the first time in history, Illinois has gone 16 months without a state budget. The middle class is under attack and universities and social service agencies are suffering.”
“LIFT will make sure Illinois voters know that Democrats have a better way forward,” Biss added.
In response, the Rauner administration directed Ward Room to comments Rauner made Tuesday at a Hispanic Heritage Month breakfast at the University of Illinois at Chicago. According to the Chicago Tribune, Rauner touched on the presidential race and the recent “Trump tapes” imbroglio.
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“To be crystal clear, I am not endorsing in the presidential race. I’m staying out of the presidential race,” Rauner said. “I am appalled by the rhetoric. The statements, especially the recent statements in that tape, just go beyond anything that is remotely reasonable and they’re appalling, disgusting comments.”
“The rhetoric for quite a while has been not representative of America’s values and very, just, wrong. And so that’s the reason, quite a while back, I said I’m not endorsing and i’m sticking with that. I’m not endorsing, I’m staying out of the presidential race,” Rauner added.