(WSIL) --Â Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin announced Monday he is jumping into the GOP Illinois primary for governor.
According to his , State Rep. Avery Bourne is his running mate. She was the youngest legislator to be sworn in to the Illinois General Assembly when she took the oath of office in 2015.
In an official press release he said, "Where JB Pritzker has failed in Illinois, I have succeeded in Aurora. If we can do it in Aurora, we can do it for all of Illinois. Let's take Illinois back and restore it to the Land of Lincoln. As the next Governor of Illinois, I will be tough on criminals, put our state on a sound fiscal path that doesn't rely on tax hikes and fight the corrupt politicians who have run our state for decades."
According to Irvin's official city bio, he's an Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He is also a former prosecutor and educator.Â
The Democratic Party of Illinois Exec. Director Abby Witt released the following statement on his announcement.
“Illinoisans will not be fooled by the Rauner Reboot slate and they will not stand idly by while Ken Griffin and Bruce Rauner try to drag our state backwards with their anti-working family agenda. Simply put, Illinois voters will not tolerate a slate of candidates whose only goal is to return us to the Rauner years of budget impasses, credit downgrades, draconian service cuts, and governmental crisis.�
