Prairie State Wire

Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) will be on hand for a meet and greet in Morgan County on Thursday, when she will speak with supporters about her 2018 Republican primary run against Gov. Bruce Rauner.

The gathering will be at 6 p.m. at The Hamilton, 110 N. East St. in Jacksonville, according to an announcement.

The 52-year-old Ives formally kicked off her campaign by filing nearly three times the 5,000 petitions needed to get on the ballot. She has named Rock Island Board member Rich Morthland as her running mate and Chicago GOP Chairman Chris Cleveland as campaign chairman.

In a video she recently posted to YouTube, Ives told supporters, “I choose taxpaying Illinois families. Gov. Rauner chose the political ruling class. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election.”

Ives later ticked off what she called Rauner’s biggest missteps during his time in Springfield, including his failure to address the state’s rising property taxes, already among the highest in the nation, his signing of taxpayer funding abortion bill HB40 and his support of sanctuary cities.

Ives previously vowed her campaign will be about restoring common sense to the cash-strapped state and regaining the trust of frustrated voters.