To win a statewide election, you’d better have a lot of money – or be within walking distance of it!

It’s the kind of thing, wealthy though they may be, Gov Rauner and JB Pritzker probably don’t want to think about. Dividing the cost of the campaign by the number of votes they received.

“Funds raised per vote, more accurately,” says Illinois Campaign for Political Reform policy director Colin Williams, “JB spent about $124 for every vote that he got, and Bruce Rauner raised about $215 for every vote he got.”

It was cheaper to get the nomination for attorney general – Democrat Kwame Raoul eight dollars and Republican Erika Harold two dollars per vote. A losing Democrat, on the other hand, spent $21 per vote. That would be State Rep. Scott Drury (D-Highwood).

Williams points out that in some cases, a challenger beat a big-spending incumbent: State Rep. Dan Burke (D-Chicago) spent $140 per vote in losing to Aaron Ortiz, who spent $35 per vote.

For the most part, though, is running for office only for the wealthy?

“It’s certainly a bigger barrier to cross for a lot of candidates,” Williams notes.