The Progressive Midwesterner

Based on recent pre-election opinion polling in the gubernatorial race here in Illinois, Democratic nominee J.B. Pritzker has a commanding lead over Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner, with Pritzker close to majority support in Illinois (only a plurality of the vote is needed to win election to the governor's office in Illinois). Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU Carbondale) has a pre-election opinion polling operation that focuses on polling high-profile Illinois electoral races, such as races for governor, and a recent poll that they conducted had Pritzker with a commanding, but not prohibitive, lead in this year's gubernatorial race : The poll was conducted September 24-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage point for the entire sample. The poll covered a sample of 1,001 registered voters. The election analysis presented here is based on 715 likely voters. The margin of error for likely voters is 3.7 percentage points. When asked, “If th...

Earlier today, Illinois State Rep. Nick Sauer (R-Lake Barrington) resigned from office in disgrace after he was caught catfishing men by pretending to be his ex-girlfriend and posting nude photos of her online without her consent: A GOP state lawmaker resigned Wednesday amid allegations that he posted nude photos of an ex-girlfriend on social media. Rep. Nick Sauer resigned after a published report alleging he set up an Instagram account under the Chicago woman's name and posted explicit photos. Politico reported that the woman filed complaints with Chicago police and the legislative inspector general against the first-term lawmaker from Lake Barrington. The 35-year-old Sauer was a member of the House Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Task Force and was seeking re-election in November. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner's response to the Sauer scandal was to try to blame Sauer's disgusting actions on...wait for it...Democratic Illinois House Speaker Mike ...