DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (AP) - After coming so close in yet another race for Illinois governor, Kirk Dillard expressed as much relief as regret this week as he contemplated his next steps.
At least for now, the Hinsdale senator’s narrow loss to GOP nominee Bruce Rauner means his public service will come to close at the end of the year after 20 years in the state senate, and before that on the staffs of former governors Jim Edgar and James Thompson. He ruled out another run for governor, but when asked if he would ever run again for office, he would say only: “I never say never. We’ll see.”
“I’m going back to being a dad and spending more time with my family and my law partners,” Dillard said.
Dillard still argued that he had perhaps the best chance to beat incumbent Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in the November election, and that the Republican party in Illinois should follow his example if they ever want to pull power from the Democrats. That includes a record of having reached across the aisle to work with Democrats and accepting labor union support in the primary.
“We can’t demonize teachers and working people and expect to ever be the majority party in the state, nor should you ever hope to govern that way,” he said Tuesday night, moments after conceding the race to Rauner.
Dillard came within 2 percentage points of winning after gaining momentum in the final weeks of the campaign. In 2010, he similarly lost the GOP nomination to fellow state Sen. Bill Brady by fewer than 200 votes.
After Tuesday’s vote, Dillard said he and Rauner, a Winnetka venture capitalist, would talk about cooperating in the months ahead, noting that he “graciously, gladly” helped Brady against Quinn four years ago. But he was noticeably absent from a unity luncheon the Republicans held the day after the election in Chicago.
“I’m really proud of the way, on a shoe string budget, we proved the pollsters wrong and gave Bruce Rauner an absolute run for his money,” Dillard said.
Dillard is a partner at the Locke Lord law firm, where he specializes in corporate law. He and his wife Stephanie have two daughters.
Despite the two disappointing near misses, he said at his poll-watching party Tuesday in Downers Grove that it wasn’t a “burning desire to be governor” that had motivated him.
“I’ll live a lot longer not being the governor,” he quipped.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.