Editor's note: This article has been updated from a previous version to reflect Tom DeVore's public announcement of his candidacy for Attorney General.
Tom DeVore, the downstate lawyer behind many of the legal challenges to Gov. JB Pritzker’s use of emergency powers in the name of fighting COVID-19, and the main architect behind the successful bid, to date, to undo Pritzker’s school mask mandates, is running to unseat the Democrat he calls Gov. JB Pritzker's "personal attorney."
DeVore has begun distributing petitions to supporters to place his name on the ballot in June for the Republican primary election for attorney General.
That followed an appearance a few days earlier, in which DeVore hinted strongly to his intent to seek the GOP nod to oppose Democratic incumbent Kwame Raoul in November.
On Wednesday, Feb. 16, speaking at a conservative rally in St. Charles, headlined by Turning Points USA founder, activist Charlie Kirk, DeVore drew a standing ovation from the crowd when he began speaking about the need for a Republican candidate willing to challenge incumbent Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a Democrat and ally of Pritzker.
During his remarks, DeVore assailed Raoul for acting as “the governor’s personal attorney,” rather than “the people’s legal counsel.”
DeVore said Raoul “left the people hanging out to dry,” repeatedly defending Pritzker’s use of emergency powers and “emergency rules” to impose COVID-related restrictions on the state throughout the past two years.
DeVore said the state of Illinois needs “elected officials that support the idea that the people govern.”
“I wonder if the state of Illinois has anybody that might be interested?” he mused, drawing applause from the crowd.
He ended his remarks by advising the crowd to watch for an announcement, and saying: “JB Pritzker, get ready, because I’m coming.”
For weeks, DeVore and his supporters have been circulating petitions in the Illinois Fifth Appellate Court District in southern Illinois, seeking to place DeVore’s name on the ballot for a seat as a justice on the Fifth District court.
But he asked his supporters last week to stop circulating those petitions.
That was followed by a distribution of petitions bearing his name to seek nominating signatures from Illinois voters to secure his ballot spot for Attorney General.
And in a Facebook video posted Tuesday morning, DeVore made it official, confirming he was running for Illinois Attorney General.
He has planned a formal announcement event for Feb. 28 in Springfield.
Last week, DeVore indicated he and other attorneys working with him, would continue to press claims in court against Pritzker and school districts that seek to impose mask mandates and other school COVID restrictions on students and educators in Illinois.
On Feb. 17, the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court refused the governor's appeal of a Springfield judge's order declaring executive actions Pritzker used to impose the COVID school mandates illegal.
That ruling from Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow was the result of a massive statewide legal challenge spearheaded by DeVore, who represented hundreds of students, parents and educators from Chicago, the suburbs and downstate.
In that ruling, Judge Grischow found Pritzker had sidestepped state law and trampled the due process rights of students, parents and educators in the way he imposed his school mask mandate and other COVID restrictions.
Grischow’s ruling largely mirrored the legal arguments presented by DeVore in that case.
That ruling marked DeVore’s biggest win, to date, in nearly two years of legal fights with Pritzker and Raoul over Pritzker’s use of power amid the pandemic.
DeVore was the first to file suit against the governor, on behalf of then-State Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, in May 2020, as Pritzker continued to impose lockdown-style policies on much of Illinois’ society and economy in the early days of the pandemic.
Bailey is now a Republican candidate for governor.
While Pritzker’s use of power was largely upheld, in recent court fights, judges have indicated a willingness to question the extent of those powers.
In her ruling, for instance, Grischow specifically shot down the idea advanced by Raoul that the governor’s powers during a pandemic should be all but limitless, if the goal is to protect the health and safety of Illinois residents against a potentially deadly virus.
In announcing his candidacy for attorney general, DeVore will oppose attorney Steve Kim, a Rockford lawyer and former candidate for Illinois Lieutenant Governor, in the Republican primary in June.
Kim is believed to have been selected for the race as part of a slate of statewide candidates, along with gubernatorial candidate Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who is financially backed by billionaire Ken Griffin, in the race against Pritzker.
Pritzker is also a billionaire and one of the heirs to his family fortune, built through the Hyatt hotel and hospitality empire.
It is not known if DeVore would also be part of a rival slate of Republican candidates, led by Bailey, and potentially backed by billionaire Richard “Dick” Uihlein, who recently donated $1 million to Bailey’s campaign.