Bruce Vincent Rauner (/ˈraʊnər/; born February 18, 1956)[1] is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019.

He won the Republican nomination in March 2014 and defeated Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn in the general election.

[12] Rauner graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Dartmouth College, where he was a brother of Theta Delta Chi.

[4][13] Rauner was the chairman of private equity firm GTCR, where he had worked for more than 30 years, starting in 1981 after his graduation from Harvard[5] through his retirement in October 2012.

[21] Prior to his 2014 run for Illinois governor, Rauner served as an advisor to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

[41] During the general election, television ads aired regarding Rauner's role in a chain of long-term care homes owned by his companies that faced lawsuits stemming from the death and alleged mistreatment of residents.

[42] Also during the election, the media reported on a controversy regarding Rauner's daughter being admitted to Walter Payton Prep school in Chicago in 2008 through the "principal picks" process.

[43][44] It was later revealed that Rauner had sought information on this process from his personal friend Arne Duncan, then CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

[48] McKinney had completed an investigative news story about a lawsuit filed by Christine Kirk, the CEO of LeapSource, a firm at which Rauner served as director.

The piece, written by three reporters and approved by the newspaper's editors, described Rauner using "hardball tactics" to threaten Kirk and her family.

[58] He governed Illinois as a moderate or liberal Republican, as evidenced by his stances on abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration, among other issues.

[65] The conflict between Rauner's demand for budget cuts and Speaker of the House Michael Madigan's demand for tax increases resulted in the Illinois Budget Impasse, with major credit agencies downgrading the state's debt to the low investment grade of triple-B by the end of 2015.

[66] On February 9, 2015, Rauner signed an executive order blocking so called "fair share" union fees from state employee paychecks.

[67][68] In February 2015, Rauner proposed $4.1 billion in budget cuts affecting higher education, Medicaid, state employee pensions, public transit, and local government support.

In April, Rauner also suspended funding for programs addressing domestic violence, homeless youth, autism, and immigrant integration.

Lawmakers said those credits would go to low- and middle-income parents, impacting roughly 6,000 private school students whose families make less than $73,000 per year.

[96] In 2014, Rauner's election campaign was helped financially by Kenneth C. Griffin, CEO of Citadel, a successful global investment firm,[98][99][100][101][102][103] who made a rare and impassioned plea to the sold-out audience at the Economic Club of Chicago (ECC) in May 2013 to replace the Democrats at all levels of governance.

He supported Rauner's campaign promises to "cut spending and overhaul the state's pension system, impose term limits, and weaken public employee unions".

[112] Rauner's services tax proposal was harshly criticized by Quinn, who said it would fall hardest on low income people.

[116] He organized and funded a push to put a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on Illinois legislators on the November 2014 ballot, gathering 591,092 signatures.

[119] Also during his campaign, Rauner declined to take a position on the controversial Illiana Expressway and Peotone Airport projects advanced by Quinn.

[122] Rauner stated that while he wanted laws and policies to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, he would not go beyond that due to constitutional concerns.

[127][128] On December 20, 2016, a Winnebago County Circuit Judge issued a preliminary injunction, which temporarily prohibited the State of Illinois from enforcing the law after it went into effect on January 1, 2017.

[131][124] Despite his veto pledge, Rauner signed the abortion rights bill into law on September 28, 2017, earning him harsh criticism from conservative Republicans.

[130] In 2018, Rauner called for the death penalty to be revived along with imposing on people convicted of killing police officers.

[132] On August 12, 2016, Rauner vetoed a bill that would have automatically registered as a voter anyone in Illinois who sought a new or updated drivers license as well as other services, unless they chose to opt out.

[138] On November 15, 2017, the United States Department of Justice announced that a preliminary conclusion had been reached that Illinois was now a sanctuary jurisdiction in violation of 8 U.S.C.

[146][147][148] In the Republican primary, Rauner faced State Representative Jeanne Ives, who ran against him from the political right.

[155] It was the most lopsided margin in an Illinois gubernatorial race since Jim Edgar's bid for a second term in 1994 and the lowest percentage of the vote received by a Republican candidate since 1912.

[160] During his campaign for governor he promised that he would accept only $1 in salary and no benefits from his office, including forgoing a pension and any reimbursement for travel expenses.