Dupage Policy Journal

Former Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti abruptly ended her run for the Republican nomination in the 6th Congressional District race for U.S. Congress on Friday, releasing a statement that suggested all the negative campaigning became too much for her to bear.

“Although I firmly believe that I can and will win the nomination if I stayed in the race, the question in my mind is at what cost,” Sanguinetti said in the statement. “There has been enough destruction in the Republican Party from past election cycles and I choose not to contribute further to it by engaging in a costly and negative campaign against my opponents.”

Sanguinetti recently came under fire after primary challenger Jeanne Ives claimed her campaign was footing the bill for a so-called push poll that sought to portray her in a false light by hailing her as House Speaker Mike Madigan’s “favorite Republican.”

Jeanne Ives

Ives alleged that it wasn’t the first time that Sanguinetti used such deceptive tactics, pointing out that the former lieutenant governor used the same measures when she ran on the same ticket as then-Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018. In that race, Rauner and Ives faced off in the Republican primary.

Among the questions posed to voters in the latest poll were ones that directly compared the two candidates with such assertions as Sanguinetti “spent 10 years fighting Mike Madigan,” while Ives is his “favorite Republican." The poll also made mention of Sanguinetti’s background as a first-generation American whose family fled Castro’s Cuba and stated she “opposes AOC (Sen. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez) and the Squad.”

“I wish the remaining candidates all the best, and I encourage all Republicans to unite behind the eventual nominee for the good of the party and more importantly the nation as we continue the fight to stop socialism and to protect the American Dream for future generations,” Sanguinetti said in her statement.

Ives is now poised to face off against Dr. Jay Kinzler as the only two announced Republicans vying to battle incumbent U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) in the November 2020 general election.