McCann turns in petition to enter race for Illinois Governor

By Gary Scott on June 26, 2018 at 7:14am

A local State Senator has made it official in his run for Illinois governor as an Independent after submitting his petition yesterday.

According to the State Journal Register, State Senator Sam McCann, of Plainview, along with his running mate Aaron Merreighn, of Riverton, filed their petition to enter the race for Illinois Governor yesterday.

While the state of Illinois requires Independent or third-party candidates to obtain 25-thousand signatures on a petition to enter the gubernatorial race, McCann’s petition contained over 65-thousand signatures. Democrat and Republican candidates that wish to file to compete in the March primary elections are only required to get five-thousand signatures.

According to the SJR, McCann has had to answer questions regarding back taxes and campaign mileage reimbursements during his time in office as Senator, though he has never been accused of any wrongdoing.  Despite being elected to the Illinois Senate in 2010 as a Republican, McCann has had his recent scuffles with the party, referring to it as being in “disarray.” Since first announcing his plans to run as a third-party candidate, McCann says Republican Party leadership in Illinois has cut him off from various services that are given to Republican State Senators, with McCann having filed a lawsuit against the state’s Republican Party..

McCann’s opponents in the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial race are current Governor Bruce Rauner, who lent his support to McCann’s opponent in the 2016 primaries, and Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker out of Chicago. The general election in Illinois takes place November 6th.