Downstate Republican Paul Schimpf To Challenge Gov. J.B. Pritzker

ILLINOIS — Former Republican state Sen. Paul Schimpf, of Waterloo, will challenge Gov. J.B. Pritzker for the Illinois governor's office in 2022, Schimpf announced at a virtual campaign event Monday.

"Gov. Pritzker, although I like him on a personal level and I certainly think he's well-intentioned, he has been a catastrophic failure as a governor," Schimpf said in an interview with WCIA News in January. "The Illinois people need somebody that they can trust to understand the problems they have, follow the rules that we all have to follow, and take on the entrenched special interest groups and political power brokers in the state. Gov. Pritzker hasn't been able to do that."

On Monday, Schimpf promised to "work hard, tell the truth, and keep my promises," in addition to doing whatever is necessary to ensure Pritzker is a one-term governor. He said he came to the decision to run for governor over the past year, "as I watched the state deteriorate."

"I'm not going to stand idly by while our state government squanders its opportunities," Schimpf added.

A retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, Schimpf was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and advised Iraqi prosecutors in the trial of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. He entered politics as an aide to U.S. Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican, in 2007.

“During that time, I had my eyes opened about politics,” Schimpf said, according to The Southern Illinoisan newspaper. “And I realized it wasn’t a matter of rocket science. You just had to be a person that was willing to make a positive change, and you needed just this small group of people who were willing to support you.”

In 2014, Schimpf failed to unseat former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in his first bid for public office. Two years later, he successfully challenged former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon for a state senate seat.

In a recent interview, Schimpf called on politicians to build consensus and, when they disagree, to disagree as friends and problem-solvers, but he stopped short of calling out former President Donald Trump by name for peddling misinformation and violent rhetoric ahead of an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

"Our country and our state can survive bad leadership, we can survive criminal activity — what we can't survive is deviating from the rule of law and the level of political toxicity that we have right now in our country," Schimpf said in response to a question about Trump's role in the Capitol riot. "It's important that we realize that just because you have a difference of political opinion with somebody, that doesn't make them a bad person. You know, I think you've heard me say before, if we're going to be able to solve the problems that we face, which are large in magnitude, we need each other and our different political perspectives to be able to understand those problems and be able to build consensus."

Schimpf has billed himself as a moderate, pro-labor Republican, but Democrats have challenged that claim.

"When given the opportunity to prove [his moderate, pro-labor credentials] during his short time in the Illinois Senate, he opposed key labor issues like supporting increasing the minimum wage," Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association President Kristina Zahorik said in a statement, according to the State Journal-Register. "He also consistently voted to extend the Rauner budget crisis that crippled our state."

Former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner backed local "right-to-work" laws and vetoed 2017's Collective Bargaining Freedom Act, which would have limited counties, villages and municipalities from restricting union organizing. Schimpf voted to override Rauner's veto, but voted with the governor on other aspects of his agenda, and against a 2017 compromise that ended a two-year budget stalemate.

The state Democratic Party sought to tie Schimpf to both Rauner and Trump in a statement issued Monday.

"Schimpf was a consistent vote for Bruce Rauner’s catastrophic agenda, even going along with his attempts to continue the historic budget crisis that resulted in Illinois going 736 days without a budget,” said Democratic Party of Illinois executive director Mary Morrissey. "He supported Donald Trump’s re-election, even after the former President failed at his central task of keeping Americans safe by lying about the dangers of the coronavirus and instead promoting conspiracy theories."

Schimpf had raised nearly $150,000 as of Monday, according to Illinois Sunshine. Top donors include billionaire Richard Uihlein, Knight Hawk Coal, banker Hunt Bonan, several real estate groups and the electric company Ameren.

Pritzker had about $400,000 cash on hand, as of Monday, with the top donor being Pritzker himself.

Nearly a dozen other Republicans are contemplating a run for the governor's office, multiple media outlets report, including Chicago CEO Gary Rabine and Xenia state Sen. Darren Bailey, whom the Illinois Review reports is expected to announce next week. A primary election is scheduled for March 2022.