Illinois' Richest Man Gives $200K To Plainfield Rep.'s Campaign

PLAINFIELD, IL — A Republican state representative from Plainfield just received a hefty donation from Illinois' richest person. According to information obtained from the Illinois State Board of Elections, Mark Batinick's campaign received $200,000 from Ken Griffin, CEO of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel on Oct. 12.

Griffin also was reported as donating $2 million to the effort against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker's campaign to convince voters to support a progressive income tax.

Batinick, who represents the 97th District, will run re-election to the Illinois House of Representatives and is on the ballot for the Nov. 3 election against Democratic contender Harry Benton. He advanced from the Republican primary on March 17.

He could use this infusion of cash since he had $130,000 in his account at the end of the last quarter, less than half of Benton's $332,000, as per reports turned in to the board of elections.

Records show that although Batinick has received donations from Griffin in the prior years as well, the amount was never this great. He was able to accept an amount this large because contributions' limits were removed in his race against Harry Benton after a super PAC, the Illinois REALTORS, spent more than $100,000 on ads supporting Batinick.

Illinois has caps for how much an individual, a corporation or union can give to a House or Senate candidate. But the ISBE can lift those caps when a self-funded candidate gives their campaign $100,000 or when Super PAC spends more than $100,000 in a race.

Griffin made an equal donation to the campaign of Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst as well.

Last year, Forbes reported that Griffin was worth $11.7 billion.

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