On Thursday, outgoing Illinois GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner told ABC7 that, after he only narrowly beat state Rep. Jeanne Ives in the March primary, that he’d tried to convince four different people to take his place as Team Red’s nominee. Rauner relayed that he’d told them that he’d “step aside, I'll give you huge financial resources, you run for governor, I'll support you.” Rauner added that he’d told them, “You have as good or better chance to get elected than me. All four of them said no, too tough, too unlikely, too difficult.” Rauner, who was now stuck carrying the GOP banner into a dreary November, lost re-election 54-39 to Democrat J. B. Pritzker.
Rauner said that he’s approached two men and two women about taking his place, but he did not name names. However, former state Sen. Karen McConnaughey soon confirmed that Rauner had contacted her in mid-April, about a month after his weak primary win. She said that she quickly turned him down and that she was “concerned in my conversations that he didn't really understand that if he really did want to take his name off the ballot, that he couldn't just pick a replacement,” and that Rauner “hadn't sought any counsel about the process, so he couldn't understand it.” She later threw some more shade at Rauner, saying this poorly thought-out scheme was “indicative of how he governed.”
However, it seems like Rauner kept trying months after this rebuff. The Chicago Tribune writes that sources close to attorney general nominee Erika Harold said that Rauner had contacted her in August. Harold, who did not comment for the article, went on to lose to Democrat Kwame Raoul 55-43, which was only slightly better than how the governor ended up doing. The paper also says that another person Rauner reached out to was Chicago Cubs part-owner Todd Ricketts, who is the brother of Nebraska GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts; Ricketts also did not comment.