Dave McKinney

Chicago

State Politics Reporter at WBEZ-FM (Chicago, IL)

Husband and dad. WBEZ. Likes: IL politics, golden retrievers, EIU, Bulls, Stones, blueberries, Wordle, cereal, Green Wave, the truth. [email protected]

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Articles

With Michael Madigan’s sentencing for corruption coming, friends write hundreds of letters urging leniency

1 week ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Dave McKinney |Dave McKinney

As a storied political fixture for a half century, convicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan accumulated a lot of friends. Nearly 250 of them flooded the judicial docket late Friday with letters of support for the politically and legally vanquished, 83-year-old Democratic political boss who could be a federal inmate into his 90s if prosecutors get their way.
Rare Abraham Lincoln artifacts sell for nearly $8 million at Chicago auction

2 weeks ago | wbez.org | Dave McKinney

An auction of precious Abraham Lincoln artifacts raised close to $8 million Wednesday, meaning a likely seven-figure windfall for a cash-strapped Springfield foundation that was selling part of its Lincoln collection to pay down a multimillion-dollar debt.
Abraham Lincoln artifacts that were once in a museum are going up for auction

2 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Dave McKinney

Items on Abraham Lincoln’s body the night he was assassinated, his earliest known handwriting and other extraordinary relics from his life are being auctioned this week in what one expert calls a “tragic” byproduct of a messy Springfield breakup. On Wednesday, a Chicago auction house will be selling part of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation’s 1,540-piece collection of Lincolniana, which was purchased in 2007 from a West Coast collector.
Abraham Lincoln artifacts that were once in a museum are going up for auction

2 weeks ago | wbez.org | Dave McKinney

Items on Abraham Lincoln’s body the night he was assassinated, his earliest known handwriting and other extraordinary relics from his life are being auctioned this week in what one expert calls a “tragic” byproduct of a messy Springfield break-up. On Wednesday, a Chicago auction house will be selling part of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation’s 1,540-piece collection of Lincolniana, which was purchased in 2007 from a West Coast collector.
Rahm Emanuel flirts with idea he’d run for president

3 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Dave McKinney

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel openly flirted with a 2028 presidential candidacy Wednesday, telling a nationally televised talk show audience that he is “in training” for a White House bid. Emanuel’s remarks on ABC’s “The View” stopped short of an actual announcement that he intends to run for what constitutionally should be an open seat, given that President Donald Trump will have served two terms.
Gov. JB Pritzker is pondering a reelection run. But should he seek a third term if he wants to be president?

3 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Dave McKinney

As he hedges about his future, Gov. JB Pritzker appears to be leaning toward a third term run next year, but it’s a decision that could have an impact on any potential 2028 White House bid of his. The governor is indisputably the most significant political domino left standing in Illinois, with the Chicago Democrat’s next move representing the most compelling, unresolved electoral storyline left now that Democratic five-term U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced his retirement.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin’s highlight reel of speeches

1 month ago | wbez.org | Dave McKinney

Since taking office, Dick Durbin will go down as one of the state’s most influential congressional figures. But the Illinois Democrat was also a master of the floor-speech zinger. Now that Durbin has announced his retirement, WBEZ’s Dave McKinney looks back at some of the senator’s more memorable stem-winders.
Longtime Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin won't seek reelection

1 month ago | nprillinois.org | Dave McKinney

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will not seek a sixth term next year, confirming to WBEZ in an Illinois exclusive that he will leave office in 2027 in a long-awaited move certain to set off a massive, intraparty succession fight. “I’ve decided not to run for re-election. So a year and a half from now, I’ll be wrapping up. I plan on working full-time until that moment, but I’m not going to be waging a campaign for re-election,” Durbin said during an interview in downtown Chicago.
Longtime Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin won’t seek reelection

1 month ago | wbez.org | Dave McKinney

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will not seek a sixth term next year, confirming to WBEZ in an Illinois exclusive that he will leave office in 2027 in a long-awaited move certain to set off a massive, intraparty succession fight. “I’ve decided not to run for re-election. So a year and a half from now, I’ll be wrapping up. I plan on working full-time until that moment, but I’m not going to be waging a campaign for re-election,” Durbin said during an interview in downtown Chicago.
Yusef Jackson invests in company that’s reaped big profits from state of Illinois program

1 month ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Dan Mihalopoulos |Dave McKinney

Yusef Jackson — a son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and brother of U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill. — invested in a company that has profited for more than a decade from a controversial, lucrative arrangement with the state of Illinois, records show. The financial interest of Yusef Jackson surfaced recently in court records in a federal civil case involving Vendor Assistance Program LLC.