Illinois Governor Jim Edgar died yesterday in Springfield, the popular Republican served as governor from 1991 to 1999 after having previously been a state representative and Illinois secretary of State Edgar was a moderate Republican who favored abortion rights.

And in recent years spoke out against President Donald Trump endorsing Kamala Harris in 2024. in 1997 today after he announced he would not seek a 3rd term or as many as expected run for the U.S. Senate.

Edgar appeared on Chicago tonight to talk about it all.

It was a decision that even his wife had been skeptical.

He'd be able to make.

>> I think what Brenda felt was it.

She just didn't think in the end that I can walk away.

From what's been my life for 30 years.

And I wasn't sure if I could I mean.

Throughout my.

Thought process and I knew It's easy to say this is what you're going to do, but to actually do And I have to say that it was extremely difficult for me to actually do the get the words out as I tried to practice that speech that.

Not running again, it was a emotionally a very difficult thing to do.

The other thing you said in your news conference yesterday, wasn't you plotted your career long ago?

>> And you must have had some sensibility them that if you got to be apparently wanted to be governor, if you've got to be governor and you've got 2 terms, you have a sense even then that that's what it would be.

How long ago did you do that?

All right.

I don't know.

I mean, I guess centers.

I worked in state government.

I knew I wanted to try to go to the top.

>> I think you do that in any profession and in my profession, it's its governor.

If you're at the state level up.

I know as secretary of state, I thought to 2 terms would be enough governor because I just felt it to you could begin to kind of tire the job or have a burnt out people could get power to you.

I have to say that is I kind of looked at what we had done while we didn't get everything done.

We're still hopefully they do something on school finance.

before the 16 months is up.

But I feel good about what we've accomplished also after I went through the surgery on my heart and 3 years ago, I kind of realized there's other things in life that I'd probably like to do have some time to to see and I felt this was the right time.

last night I was watching a program TV noose station and down.

Stay down Interviewed my high school football coach.

And he said, you know, when Jim was a senior in high school, he was driven, then and it kind of hit me that I was driven.

I mean, I've always been driven.

I've been driven in politics and I think after that surgery, the fact that I had detained the governorship in for 2 terms that I don't think maybe that drive was as great as had been.

And I really felt at that point and maybe you shouldn't continue going into another campaign looking at other for years.

You've got to have a certain drive where the run for governor of the U.S. Senate.

>> You look great.

And as you said yesterday, the cholesterol numbers are about as picture perfect as you can get.

But that surgery is a sobering thing is that that's not a little.

>> Little thing now because I had always thought most people kind of immortal.

I may not my health and always been good before I had heart trouble.

starting about 5 years ago.

So that really caught me completely off guard.

But after the surgery, and as I said, it just made me realize there's.

Probably some other things in life that I'd want to be sure to do.

Not that I didn't enjoy being governor and I've enjoyed it immensely.

But there are other things before my time's up.

I want to do a lot.

Just little things.

Our grandson is now about 2 and a half of they've moved You know, I want to make sure I can have some time to get out and see him he grows up.

And hopefully I have other grandkids as well.

There are those kind of things that to me are far more important, then kind of that to drive.

I had to to get to the top of the political heat.

>> And true to his word, Edgar left office at age 52 and never reenter politics.

Eggers popularity can be seen in his 1994 reelection when he won 101 of Illinois's 102 counties, including Cook.

Jim