Rauner victorious in tight race against Ives

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner was victorious Tuesday night in a tight race against Jeanne Ives.

With 95 percent of the precincts reporting statewide - but a large portion of DuPage County's vote uncounted late into the night because of a hardware glitch - Rauner told supporters he had won the Republican nomination and will face Democrat J.B. Pritzker in November. He was holding a 22,192 vote lead on Ives at midnight, yet Ives conceded she had lost the race, as well.

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Rauner took Cook and Lake counties, but Ives was ahead in DuPage and won in Kane, McHenry and Will counties as well as nearly two dozen downstate counties.

"You have given me the chance to win the battle against the corruption that plagues Illinois," Rauner said late Tuesday.

Historians called the primary battle involving an incumbent relatively rare in Illinois, but Rauner's moderate policies alienated some in the GOP and when he backed Medicaid funding for abortions last fall, Ives pounced. Ives called Rauner a fake Republican, also pointing to his backing of a measure that exempts local police from having to report arrests of undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.

Investment banker Rauner of Winnetka initially took the high road, ignoring Ives and spending millions of his own money on ads against Democratic front-runner J.B. Pritzker.

But as Ives' campaign drew attention and support, he increasingly tied her to Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan.

The two billionaires squaring off for the governor's seat could make the battle one of the costliest ever.

"In Illinois, we do not have a Democrat or Republican problem, we have a math problem," Ives said, referring to spending by the state government. "A day of reckoning is coming."