Lt. Governor Candidates Make Their Case
Republican Lt. Governor nominee Aaron Del Mar, Democratic Lt. Governor nominee Christian Mitchell, and Independent Lt. Governor candidate Carolyn Schofield.
The running mates for the three candidates for Governor are making their case in the final weeks before Election Day vying for a job at the top of the ticket, but with few constitutional duties.
Republican Aaron Del Mar, Democrat Christian Mitchell, and Independent Carolyn Schofield all sat down for separate interviews on The Illinoize Podcast. Recent polling by a Democratic-leaning firm shows Governor JB Pritzker leading GOP nominee Darren Bailey by 20 points.
Bailey’s running mate, Aaron Del Mar, said he isn’t buying it.
“I think that this idea that it’s going to be chicken little where the sky is falling, I don’t think it’s a real narrative,” Del Mar said. “I think what I get on the ground, the feel that I get at events, not just Republican events, but when I go to festivals and halls and people come up to me and say ‘you know, we’re supporting you, we’re unhappy with the current climate and the current administration,” I think that matters more than what some polling that might be coming out says.”
The Pritzker campaign has been hammering Bailey on television and in mailboxes, but Pritzker has made few public campaign stops in recent weeks.
Mitchell says they aren’t taking the race lightly.
“I would say, first of all, the Governor’s been out on the campaign trail,” Mitchell said. “I’m also out here running and campaigning. We’re not taking them for granted at all. I’m campaigning every day between now and [Election Day]. The Governor is working extraordinarily hard.”
Both Del Mar and Mitchell defended their running mate on property taxes. Bailey has proposed a 1% property tax cap, which is unlikely to become law. Pritzker has repeatedly called property taxes a local problem, though the state sets the laws that govern property tax assessments, levies, and collections.
Mitchell defended Pritzker’s position.
“Most of your local property tax bill is going toward your local schools for putting more money in the public education,” he said. “It’s got to be how can you properly fund our schools without raising taxes on the middle class? The property tax problem is a very big problem. It’s a very serious problem, but ultimately I think the best thing the state can do is better fund public education and do what it can to help lower those rates.”
Del Mar defended Bailey’s stance and offered a potential real estate transfer tax to help shift school funding away from property taxes.
“Most homeowners that are residential homeowners, maybe not real estate investors, they only sell or buy houses [one] or two times, maybe three, at most, in their lifetime. If you can get a higher equity and you have lower annual property taxes, I think that dulls the blade on that transfer tax,” Del Mar said. “If you look at how we can use TIF districts, if you look how we can use entertainment districts, like I proposed [in our] plan to redevelop the Arlington racetrack facility for the Chicago Bears. I think there’s a lot of different opportunities that you can offset that property tax and offer people a lot of relief.”
Recent polling shows Independents Collin Corbett and Carolyn Schofield at 6%. Schofield says while Independents are unlikely to win in November, they’re trying to build a bigger movement for the center.
“I don’t know that I have a number so much in mind, but I think we’ve had some wins along the way already,” Schofield said. “This is a bigger movement. This is about changing the conversation. This is about standing up to the process and saying its no longer working for the people.”
Below are our podcast interviews with Del Mar, Schofield, and Mitchell.
