With state elections coming up in just a month, the governor’s race is starting to pick up. Pat Quinn, who is running for reelection, represents the Democratic Party, while Bruce Rauner represents the Republican Party. There are two third party candidates, Chad Grimm (Libertarian) and Scott Summers (Green), but these parties are rarely elected to office. The only effect they will have is taking votes away from the popular candidate. Unfortunately, with this year’s election, it looks like we will have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Let’s start with Quinn. He has a little bit of an edge with this election because he was the one who took over when Blagojevich was impeached for political corruption. However, I don’t know if this will be enough to save him. He has cut government spending, but he did it by getting rid of prisons, which are a main job resource for their surrounding communities. I personally know of people who have been affected by this cut. Plus Quinn is always making cuts to state-run schools’ funding. With the demand for higher education ever on the rise, this is hurtful to our children’s futures. Another thing he has going against him is the fact that he never lives in Springfield when state legislature is in session. This may not seem like a negative, but one could argue that not being in Springfield prevents him from doing his job. There is even a mansion provided for him that he can live in, but he chooses to stay in Chicago. This is breaking one of his original campaign promises. If he can’t keep a promise as simple as that, how can we expect that he is going to keep any of the promises that he is making now?

Rauner isn’t much better. In all actuality, Illinois is a Democratic Party state. Simply by being a Republican, he is starting behind. Rauner is a corporate man. One of the biggest issues that he will face is his corporate past. He has outsourced jobs that could have gone to Americans, specifically those in Illinois. If he can’t provide jobs in his own companies, then how can he be expected to make more jobs for the citizens of Illinois? Unemployment has always been a big issue in Illinois, and while it is better now than it has been in the past six years, there is still massive room for improvement. Rauner wants to cut minimum wage. While Illinois’ minimum wage is not as low as some, it is not as high as others. With unemployment still being an issue, we cannot afford to lower the already struggling incomes by cutting the meager minimum wage.

If these candidates are any indication of how the next four years are going to be in Illinois, I’m glad that I will be leaving the state to go to graduate school in two years