In December 2014 after winning re-election but prior to being inaugurated for a second term incumbent Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka passed away creating a vacancy. Following a temporary appointment by Governor Quinn to fill out the remaining three weeks of Topinka's first term, in 2015 Governor Rauner appointed Leslie Munger to the post for two years until a special election could be held.
While the Comptroller's race is usually held in off-year elections this presidential cycle we will have a special election for the remainder of the 2015-2018 term. The incumbent is Republican Leslie Munger, appointed by Governor Rauner, she is a former executive at Helene Curtis where from 1984 to 2001 she worked for prominent Republican fundraiser (and 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate) Ron Gidwitz. In 2014 Munger challenged Democrat Carol Sente in the 59th House but lost by five points.
Her Democratic challenger is former State Representative and current Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza. Mendoza was elected to the State House six times beginning in 2000 until she was elected City Clerk in 2011 and re-elected in 2015.
In a year where female candidates are in prominent top-ballot positions for both President and US Senate in Illinois turnout among women could be higher than normal and either candidate could benefit as they both have impressive credentials.
However it's also possible that both could be drawn into the ongoing proxy war between Governor Rauner and Speaker Madigan. Munger was appointed by Governor Rauner and may seek his help (or his wealthy allies) to make up her fundraising deficit, on June 30th Munger only had $232K cash on hand compared to Mendoza's $1.333 million. Mendoza has already received significant support from Madigan as he strongly backed Mendoza in the primary and solicited and encouraged early endorsements from much of the Democratic establishment on her behalf, an effort that was successful enough to convince State Senator Daniel Biss to drop his primary challenge so Mendoza could advance through the primary unopposed. During the primary a number of races were viewed as proxy wars between the Governor and the Speaker (the Democratic 5th House Dunkin/Stratton, the Republican 50th Senate McCann/Benton) and that narrative is likely to extend to this race for the upcoming general election.
Click on the tabs above for additonal information/data relevant to this race including real-time fundraising and spending totals (as of 9pm last night) plus statewide general election vote history.
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Here is the historical general election performance for statewide candidates by region. Check out the FAQ for an explation on the difference between traditional collars and expanded collars.
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Here is the historical general election performance for statewide candidates by media market.
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Here is the historical general election performance for statewide candidates by county.
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Here is the historical general election performance for statewide candidates by Chicago ward.
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Here is the historical general election performance for statewide candidates by Cook County Township.
Sometimes you have to click on the tabs below to get the data to appear, I don't know why it does that and I haven't been able to resolve it consistently.