‘Yes, it’s crazy,’ but independent governor long-shot believes in the mainstream

On Oct. 16, independent candidate for governor Collin Corbett kicked off an eight-day slog of town halls that stretched from Oak Lawn to Round Lake Park.

Wednesday, Corbett concluded the odyssey by talking property taxes and unfunded mandates at the Palatine American Legion.

Since embarking on his quixotic quest in May, the former Republican strategist has invested thousands of his personal savings, alienated GOP allies, and spent hours campaigning while his pregnant wife holds the fort.

Why is the Palatine resident undertaking what appears to be a mission impossible with incumbent Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker comfortably ahead in blue-state Illinois?

“Yes, it’s crazy. No, it’s not all going to happen all by Nov. 3, but you’ve got to take your first step before you can take your second,” Corbett told an audience of about 20 people.

Tuesday’s general election when Corbett will be on the ballot with Pritzker and Republican gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey “is our first chance to send a message that we want something better in our politics. We want less extreme candidates, more mainstream positions and common sense.”

Corbett, founder of Cor Strategies consultants, has spent more than 20 years running hundreds of campaigns mostly for GOP candidates. The birth of his 2-year-old son, Theodore, was a wake-up call to advocate for a middle ground between far right and far left, he said.

“Yes, I left my political party but it’s not an attack on that party, it’s an attack on the system itself,” Corbett told the group.

Illinois elections have devolved to where Republicans and Democrats just focus on whipping up their bases, he said. “We need to force these candidates to actually compete for the middle.”

However, when Corbett opened the floor for questions, the first topic that surfaced was high property taxes.

“While it’s true roughly 70% of your property tax bill goes to schools, we need to identify why we are living in this environment where our local municipalities, our townships, our schools, our libraries, our parks — why do they have to keep raising our taxes,” Corbett answered.

He blamed Springfield for underfunding schools and advocated for channeling more revenues to education through freezing discretionary spending, overhauling unfunded mandates and other tactics.

“I thought it was very informative,” voter Michael Berthold said. “He is right. We’ve got to get rid of this two-party gridlock.”

Corbett acknowledged all signs point to a Pritzker third term but would consider securing 10% to15% of the returns a victory.

“I like to shoot for the stars,” he said.

The path to that goal is through the suburbs, Corbett thinks.

“JB Pritzker is pretty well focused on Chicago and has a strong voter base in Chicago,” he said. “Darren Bailey is focused downstate, whereas we’ve been focused on the suburbs. Not only are the suburbs where our most likely voters reside, but it’s also an area of the state that feels ignored.”

The 40-year-old was born in Batavia and later moved to the Palatine area with his family. In 2006 at age 20, he dove into Republican politics and in 2012 crossed paths with another suburbanite, Charlie Kirk, while working on a congressional campaign.

The two had a friendly rivalry, although they did not agree on a lot politically, Corbett said. When the conservative icon was fatally shot in 2025 “that hurt, and hit pretty hard.”

Prior to running for office, Corbett deviated from many in the GOP’s base by supporting abortion rights. He also opposes restrictions on IVF, which for him is a personal issue.

“For many families like us, IVF is the only way we were ever going to be able to start a family. For those who are going to oppose that, I don’t know how they could call themselves pro-life because little Teddy wouldn’t be here without IVF,” Corbett said.

He and his wife lent the campaign about $500,000 from their savings; so far, other contributions are less than $88,000, state filings show.

The decision to enter the race was a joint one, Corbett said.

“I knew I would have to step away from my companies, that they would lose half their clients, that I would lose friends, and family wouldn’t speak to me because that’s just the environment we’re in, in this partisan era,” he said. “We knew the cost we were going to pay — my wife and I willingly did it.”

Asked what’s next, Corbett intends to continue building a movement that will invest in “good candidates, whether they’re Democrat, Republican or independent.”

“I’ve heard from a number of legislators on both sides of the aisle who say they feel held hostage by the extreme wing of their party. We want to create cover for those lawmakers down in Springfield who want to do the right thing.”