Illinois gubernatorial candidate and businessman Bruce Rauner wants you to know, he’s not part of the one percent, he’s part of the .01 percent.
“Oh I’m probably .01 percent,” Rauner corrected in response to a previous statement an interview with The Chicago Sun-Times‘s Natasha Korecki. Rauner’s net worth is reportedly close to nearly $1 billion. Rauner, a venture capitalist, owns nine homes and made $53 million in 2013, according to the Sun-Times.
But Rauner also wanted to be clear that he isn’t like other wealthy Republicans associated with governor’s mansions. He said he’s nothing like former Massachusetts Gov. and presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R).
“I am a very different person than Mitt Romney: I drink beer, I smoke a cigar, I use a gun, I ride a Harley,” Rauner said in the same interview. “I get a crowd going to a standing ovation, I never saw him do that.”
Romney did, however, get crowds going to standing ovations on occasion, like at the 2012 Republican National Convention.
A former top Romney 2012 campaign official scoffed at Rauner’s comments.
“I don’t know what cave Bruce was stuck in during 2012, but of the 60+ million people who voted for Mitt Romney, tens of thousands would regularly show up to stand and cheer at our rallies,” the official told TPM.
In January, Rauner suggested that the minimum wage be lowered. He later backtracked on that remark.
Most polling has shown Rauner as the frontrunner in the Republican gubernatorial primary. A recent Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows Rauner with 36 percent followed by state Sen. Kirk Dillard with 23 percent and state Sen. Bill Brady with 18 percent and state Treasurer Dan Rutherford with 9 percent.
This post was updated.
