7 key points from our interviews with the candidates for Illinois comptroller

MOORE’S SUMMARY: Earlier this month, my colleague Ben Szalinski interviewed state Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, and I spoke with Republican attorney Bryan Drew of Benton, the two candidates vying to succeed incumbent Comptroller Susana Mendoza. Our full story will be posted later this morning, but here are some key points:

1. There’s an insider-versus-outsider dynamic. Croke held leadership positions in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and was on JB Pritzker’s 2018 campaign staff. The governor endorsed her in a competitive, four-way Democratic primary earlier this year. The highest elected office Drew’s held is trustee on his local community college board.
2. Croke has heavily outraised Drew, but fundraising has slowed greatly since she won the primary with 34% of the vote. Croke’s raised more than $2.6 million since 2025, but more than 80% came before the primary. What this tells me: Like many races this cycle, the primary was viewed as the more competitive election than the general.
3. Croke’s top donors include Chicago businessman and Democratic megadonor Michael Sacks, who’s contributed more than $300,000 to her campaign, and a hodgepodge of influential trade unions. Pritzker’s given his former staffer $72,800.
4. Drew, who did not face competition in the Republican primary, raised just under $80,000 from outside donors, about the same number of miles he’s logged traveling the state in his car since campaign started. Lacking the funds to sustain a paid advertising campaign in the nation’s sixth-largest state, Drew is leaning on the latter to get his message out.
5. Croke on asserting her independence from Pritzker: “The governor does not appreciate ‘Yes’ people. I’ve seen this as someone who’s been around this world. He surrounds himself with people who challenge him, obviously respectfully. But that’s how we get better outcomes.”
6. Drew on his outsider status: “I’ll probably be eating lunch by myself,” noting that his career as an attorney has prepared him to handle a job where “you don’t make everyone happy.”
7. There isn’t much ticket-splitting these days. Croke and Drew will likely ride the coattails of the candidates with whom they share the ballot. If Nov. 3 is a good night for Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate, it probably will be for Croke.

Check out mine and Ben’s full story for more.

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