Republican governor endorsements from around the state
On March 20, voters will choose between two candidates in the Republican primary for Illinois governor. The Daily Herald offered some help for making that choice with the endorsement we published on Feb. 18. Newspaper editorial boards throughout the state have examined the candidates, too, and we thought it would be helpful to give suburban voters a deeper look at how papers in different parts of the state have argued for individual candidates.
We contacted prominent papers from communities in the central and southern regions of Illinois in addition to the Chicago metros and asked to reprint portions of their endorsement editorials. Not all newspapers have published their endorsements, and some have no plans to endorse.
Of newspapers we contacted who agreed to participate, only the Rockford Register Star endorsed challenger Jeanne Ives. Newspapers that support Gov. Bruce Rauner offered varying reasons for their position.
Our sampling is not intended to be representative of Illinois editorial boards in general. Rather, we sought to gauge the thinking around the state. Here are links to their endorsements:
The Rockford Register Star (subscription to read online)
The (Springfield) State Journal-Register
The (Bloomington) Pantagraph and The (Decatur) Herald & Review, sister papers that share their editorial board