A day after Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin announced his Republican candidacy for governor, his campaign rolled out dozens of endorsements led by Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin, making Irvin the establishment candidate for the nomination.
Irvin, the first Black mayor of Illinois’ second largest city, was the fifth candidate to announce a bid for the GOP governor nomination in the June 28 primary, with the winner gaining the right to take on first-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the Nov. 8 general election.
On Tuesday, as it filed his statement of candidacy, Irvin’s campaign issued a list of 60 endorsements from a wide spectrum of Republicans including Durkin and former Downstate GOP Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville, Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter, former state GOP Chair Tim Schneider, former U.S. Ambassador and GOP financier Ron Gidwitz, as well as several individual members of the legislature and the Republican State Central Committee.
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin speaks at the Aurora police station about a police-involved shooting in which one person was killed and two officers injured in March 2018. Irvin is the fifth candidate to announce a bid for the GOP governor nomination in the June 28 primary. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune / Chicago Tribune)
Irvin heads a slate assembled to attract backing from Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel and the state’s wealthiest person. Griffin has pledged to go “all in” against Pritzker, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, and said in a statement on Monday that he was “excited” about Irvin’s entry into the race.
A link to Griffin is important to Durkin, who heads the 45-member GOP minority against the 73-member Democratic majority in the Illinois House and is looking for Griffin’s financial help to win down-ballot House seats against Democrats expected to get cash from Pritzker.
State Rep. Avery Bourne of Morrisonville, a member of Durkin’s leadership team, is Irvin’s candidate for lieutenant governor.
In a statement Durkin touted Irvin’s credentials as a former assistant state’s attorney in Cook and Kane counties, echoing on the candidate’s own law-and-order focus in his announcement.
“Richard Irvin was a prosecutor who knows what it takes to make Illinois safe. As Mayor, Richard hired more cops and stood proudly with law enforcement when Illinois Democrats repeatedly turned their backs. That’s the kind of leadership we need today in Illinois,” Durkin said.
In his announcement, Irvin touted efforts to increase police funding in Aurora, adding, “Defund the police is dumb, dangerous and it costs lives. And I believe that all lives matter. Every family should be safe.”
“All lives matter” has become a phrase associated with conservatives supporting police and attacking the Black Lives Matter movement that grew out of incidents of police violence. In Irvin’s announcement video, the phrase appears as a graphic, as does “Back the Blue.”
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But in a candidate questionnaire for his reelection campaign as mayor in March of last year, Irvin gave an unqualified endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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“I support Black Lives Matter strongly and passionately. I am supportive and proud of the peaceful demonstration throughout this past summer in response to the murder of George Floyd, Jacob Blake, Breonna Taylor and many others,” Irvin was quoted as saying.
“Politics, especially racial politics, are rarely easy but I believe this past summer was a wake-up call to America and we continue you that momentum going to create substantive change,” he said.
Almost a year earlier, Ervin had announced a four-part plan to increase police accountability and require more citizen oversight over law enforcement.
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Asked to explain Irvin’s evolution in thinking on the issue, his campaign had no immediate comment.
Irvin’s attempt to become the first major party Black nominee for Illinois governor is aimed at drawing to the GOP disaffected Black voters who traditionally vote overwhelmingly Democratic. But his announcement, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, drew criticism from the Democratic leaders of the Legislative Black Caucus.
In a statement, the caucus leaders accused Irvin of “co-opting a day of great significance.”
“On a day dedicated to service, equality and protection of those on the margins of society, the Republican Party has shown their shallow opportunism takes no days off. We have no interest in reverting, retreating or going backward. In Illinois, Black Lives Matter today, tomorrow and every day,” the statement said.
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