MONEY did not talk during the Democratic and Republican primary elections held in Illinois on March 20th—it screamed. The incumbent Republican governor, Bruce Rauner (pictured), who splashed out some $50m on his campaign, saw off a strong challenge from a right-winger, Jeanne Ives. He will face an even richer opponent in the general election in November, because J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire who poured almost $70m into his own campaign, easily won the Democratic primary for governor. Wealthy candidates also prevailed in many of the primary races for Illinois’s 18 congressional seats and other positions, held on the same day.

High-level politics is increasingly a game for wealthy people. Roll Call, a political newspaper owned by The Economist Group, calculates that America’s senators and congressmen were worth $2.43bn when the 115th Congress began—20% more than the previous Congress. Ten house members and three senators are worth more than $43m each (many politicians are not required to state the value of their properties). Not all contribute to their own campaigns, though, and few are as spendthrift as would-be governors of Illinois. The race, which has already cost about $160m, could well become the most expensive non-presidential campaign in history, exceeding the $280m spent in California’s governor’s race in 2010.

It is easy to see why the Democratic establishment, including county chairmen, big unions and elected politicians, embraced Mr Pritzker’s candidacy. The millions he is spending on his own campaign mean more cash can be spent on crucial legislative races. Daniel Biss, a state senator and former maths teacher who was defeated by Mr Pritzker, wondered during the campaign whether Illinois is engaged in “an auction or an election”.

Enormously wealthy people have competed in Illinois elections before. But until Mr Rauner’s victory in 2014 “they did not really do well”, says Christopher Mooney of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2004 Barack Obama saw off two richer opponents: Blair Hull, a former securities trader who had pumped $29m into his campaign, and the Republican Jack Ryan. Both were felled by personal scandals.

The trouble with rich neophytes, explains Mr Mooney, is that they are not properly vetted. Mr Pritzker has already hit a couple of bumps. In February the Chicago Tribune unearthed tapes of a conversation in 2008 between Mr Pritzker and Rod Blagojevich, then governor of Illinois, who is now in prison. In the conversation Mr Pritzker called Jesse White, a well-liked secretary of state, the “least offensive” black candidate. On March 14th the same newspaper revealed the businessman’s ties to offshore companies.

The bulk of the millions spent on the battle for the governorship so far has come from four men: Messrs Rauner and Pritzker themselves; Ken Griffin, a hedge-fund billionaire, who lavished $20m on Mr Rauner; and Richard Uihlein, an entrepreneur who used to finance Mr Rauner but recently gave $2.5m to Ms Ives because he was upset about Mr Rauner signing a bill that expands public funding of abortions. It is almost enough to make one wish for the old days, when Illinois was run by a corrupt Democratic machine. Almost.