Prairie State Wire

Despite his defeat in Tuesday's U.S. Senate race, Republican Mark Curran is hoping business owners across Illinois have finally had enough.

“The only way to stop this Democrat-led siege against small businesses in Illinois is to stop electing anti-business Democrats,” Curran told the Prairie State Wire. “Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) is Pritzker’s anti-business henchman. He has said nothing advocating for the backbone of our state.”

Citing rising infection rates, the governor recently moved to reenact COVID-19 restrictions that include banning indoor bar and restaurant service in a flood of counties across the state, quickly raising the ire of many small business owners still reeling from the impact of the governor’s initial shutdown. More recently, Democratic lawmakers have joined in demanding that the governor hold public hearings to justify his latest restrictions.

Curran has long been sounding the alarm bell about the impact he thinks the governor’s shutdown actions are having on the state’s small business industry.

“Small business won’t survive much longer or even have the chance to if this governor gets his way,” he told the Prairie State Wire. “The way he’s handled this COVID-19 crisis has been all wrong for Illinois.”

Curran rages there could be a method to what he sees as all Durbin’s follies.

“I think this is about trying to bankrupt this state in order to set things up for a federal bailout,” he said. “To get what he wants, I don’t think he cares anything about who gets hurt by his actions.”

Curran, who served 12 years as Lake County sheriff, regrets that his discipline and tenacity won't be available for Illinois at this critical time. Durbin won the race with 2,884,058 votes (53%) to Curran's 2,193,323 (40.3%). 

“So many politicians get to Washington and lose their connection with constituents," he added. "Durbin is the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. His primary objective has become appeasing other Democrats as citizens and businesses get lost in the mix.”