A special election for Illinois comptroller will take place on November 8, 2016. The current comptroller is Republican Leslie Munger, a former business executive and unsuccessful 2014 nominee for the Illinois House of Representatives who was appointed comptroller by Governor Bruce Rauner at the start of his term in 2015. Munger was appointed to replace the last elected comptroller, Judy Baar Topinka, who died shortly after her reelection in 2014.[1] Republican Leslie Munger, Democratic state Senator Daniel Biss, and Democratic Chicago City ClerkSusana Mendoza began as the leading candidates running for election;[2] Biss dropped out in November 2015.[3]
Background
Topinka died in December 2014, shortly after being re-elected to a second term in November, but before that second term began. Outgoing Democratic Governor Pat Quinn (who lost his own bid for re-election) appointed his former budget chief Jerry Stermer to fill the remainder of Topinka's first term, allowing Governor-elect Bruce Rauner to make his own appointment for what would have been Topinka's second full term.[4]
In an early January 2015 special session, the Democratic-led Illinois General Assembly approved a bill requiring that a special election be held at the next regular statewide election for any vacancy in any statewide executive office that occurs more than 28 months before the end of the term. Governor Quinn signed the bill shortly thereafter.[5] Whoever incoming Governor Bruce Rauner appointed to fill Topinka's second term would serve only until a 2016 special election, instead of serving the full four-year term. The special election law received criticism from Republicans, who described it as a move to weaken Governor Rauner by shortening the term of his appointee.[4]
