Bruce Rauner’s money management skills showed through in a big way on Tuesday night as Illinois voters ousted Pat Quinn and chose the millionaire venture capitalist to shake up Springfield, NBC News projects.
"This election is about bringing back our great state," Rauner said during his victory speech Tuesday night. "This is a victory for our taxpayers who need to have lower tax burden. This is a victory for our workers who deserve to have a booming economy. This victory is for our students, our children who deserve the best schools in America. And this is a victory for our citizens who deserve a government without corruption by getting term limits on our elected officials in springfield."
"This is an historic time in Illinois. The voters have spoken. The voters have provided divided government for the first time in years."
The Winnetka native, who spent $26 million of his own fortune to run for governor of Illinois, won the prize he set out to collect.
Rauner beat Quinn by a margin of nearly 4 percent, based on unofficial numbers, to take over the governor’s mansion.
Quinn hadn't conceded the race on Tuesday night, and pledged to continue counting votes.
Rauner ran on tag line about shaking up Springfield and focused his energy on talking a good budget game -- but never got too specific about his plans.
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Rauner said throughout the election that he would lower taxes and raise funding for education at the same time.
He also promised term limits for elected officials and to run the state like a business.
Now we’ll see how venture capitalist Rauner acts as governor Rauner and how he deals with the state’s entrenched special interests and special politicians (read: Speaker of the House Michael Madigan).
