When it comes to running for governor of Illinois, state Senator Bill Brady hopes three is the magic number.
Wednesday, the Bloomington-based Republican formally launched his third bid for governor, entering a crowded GOP ballot that already includes businessman Bruce Rauner, state Senator Kirk Dillard and Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.
"It’s time to finish the job we started four years ago," Brady, 52, said according to the Tribune during his announcement in Chicago.
Illinois voters have already twice rejected Brady's bid for the state's highest office, but Brady told the Sun-Times that only bolsters his standing because he's a now-familiar face.
“In a big state like Illinois, running ads doesn’t make people comfortable with you,” Brady said. “History and time makes people comfortable with you.”
Despite his experience in the gubernatorial race, Brady is far from the current party favorite: the Sun-Times reports Rutherford leads the GOP side in polls, while the personally wealthy Rauner already has a superior war chest of $1.3 million to Brady's $200,000.
NBC Chicago's Ward Room had a particularly scathing take on the two-time loser, dubbing the senator "Bradysaurus," the "prairie dinosaur whose ideas were a half-century out of date in 2010."
"Not many Republicans could have lost to Pat Quinn in 2010. But with his opposition to abortion rights, gay rights, animal rights, labor union, combined with his disdain for Illinois’s largest city, Brady pulled it off."
Political experts told the Associated Press Brady's stances alienated voters in Cook and collar counties, but Brady himself attributes his narrow 2010 loss to Quinn — by a margin of less than 1 percent — to voters simply being more familiar with the now-governor.
Brady's latest run has been months in the making; just a day after the Nov. 6 election last year, a Bill Brady for Governor website went live.
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