The 2018 governor’s race is on pace to be the most expensive in U.S. history, propelled by a wealthy Republican incumbent and a billionaire Democrat who are airing TV ads and hopping private planes to campaign events more than a year before Election Day.

 

J.B. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and one of the world’s richest people, is among several Democrats trying to defeat multimillionaire businessman-turned-governor Bruce Rauner. Also running is Democrat Chris Kennedy, nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, who in a typical race might easily be the candidate with the biggest bank account.

 

But this is not a typical race. All of the candidates combined have raised more than $100 million in the past year. Most of that comes from Pritzker and Rauner’s own money. That’s almost as much as was spent in the entire 2014 governor’s race, which set an Illinois record at $112 million.

 

The candidates spent nearly $30 million in the first nine months of this year — more than seven times the amount spent in the same period four years ago, according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

 

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