'We've got to keep getting better': Rabine discusses campaign focus, small business

Gubernatorial candidate Gary Rabine said his experiences working and creating businesses as a youth helped him understand Illinois' future direction. 

Rabine is one of several Republicans challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, for the state's top executive post in 2022. In an August statement, Rabine said he "has built successful businesses, created thousands of jobs for Illinois families, and is the outsider Illinois needs to turn the state around."

In an interview with the Suburban Marquee, Rabine said that young entrepreneurs today have a much harder time getting started in business. 

"It's way tougher today for a young person to start my business or any business that it was four years ago," Rabine said in an interview with Suburban Marquee. "But it's not that way everywhere." 

Rabine hosts Ditch Digger CEO, a podcast focused on entrepreneurs. The show's website reads, "We tell the real stories of people who have risen to the top. Their raw wisdom, unfiltered mistakes, and the lessons they've learned along the way go straight from their mouths to your ears." 

As of press time, he has released 62 episodes. 

When it comes to business success, Rabine said that creativity and new ideas are key. 

"Innovation doesn't happen in those big corporations very much. Innovation happens in small businesses," Rabine said. "Small businesses...they're always striving to differentiate and they're always trying to be striving to be innovative, using every tool they can to get the edge," he said. 

When a small business succeeds, Rabine said it makes a community better. And that's his goal, he said, to make local communities better by helping businesses. 

"When innovation happens that are not only is that business better, the community is better, the state is better and the country's better," Rabine said.  

Rabine started as a newspaper delivery boy at age 10 and mowed lawns before starting in the paving business and partnering with his dad in creating the Rabine Group, which became a national leader in paving parking lots, according to Rabine's campaign website. 

"We've got to keep getting better," Rabine said. "And if you have that mentality, good things happen. So, I guess I would say to anybody in business today, it's tougher than it used to be to start a business, but we do start business on an annual basis in companies." 

One reason he's running for governor is to improve the business environment for those in Illinois. 

"So, my passion and to run for governor initially was the fact that I want to keep my businesses here in Illinois," Rabine said. "We're definitely one of the worst environments for first people to start small businesses to grow businesses to find opportunity." 

Rabine said, "You need 20 Corey Brooks," in response to urban blight and joblessness, according to an article by South Cook News. Brooks is the Pastor of the New Beginnings Church on the city’s South Side, according to the South Cook News article. Brooks founded Project H.O.O.D a community center in the Woodlawn neighborhood left scarred by out-of-control gang violence.