Illinois Republicans have been saying ever since a state budget deal was announced by the majority Democrats that not enough money was appropriated for Fiscal Year 2024 to pay for the new AFSCME [American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees] Council 31 employee union contract. Some have even predicted that the contract plus other spending pressures, including health-care for undocumented immigrants, will eventually lead to a tax hike.

The last time a sitting Illinois Republican congressperson faced a real primary challenge from a non-incumbent was more than seven years ago, when then-state Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) challenged US Representative John Shimkus (R-Collinsville). Even so, nobody really thought McCarter had much of a chance, and, as expected, he ended up losing to Shimkus by more than 20 points. We’ve seen reapportionment-related GOP primaries between congressional incumbents - the most recent being U.S. Representative Rodney Davis’s 2022 crushing loss to fellow U.S. Representative Mary Miller (no relation) - but serious challenges of sitting Republican US Representatives are otherwise fairly rare here.

Back in May, Governor JB Pritzker told reporters that his administration had given lawmakers seven options to rein in costs of a health-care program for undocumented immigrants, which was growing well beyond affordability.

Back in February, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago proposed some sweeping revenue changes designed to significantly boost the state’s credit rating to “AA” over time and help accelerate the state’s pension payments to bring down its huge, unfunded liabilities. The group’s proposals were striking because their members are some of the wealthiest people in the state. In the country, even.