All eyes are on DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin. Candidates are ready to line up to run for his seat should he decide to not seek re-election.
DuPage County Board member Liz Chaplin (2nd District) has already announced her campaign for chair on Facebook. DuPage County Board member Lynn LaPlante (4th District) also is mulling a run. LaPlante was the Democratic nominee in 2018 and came within 7,000 votes of unseating Cronin (51 percent to 49 percent). And state Rep. Deb Conroy is eyeing the seat, too. She, LaPlante and Chaplin are all Democrats.
On the Republican side, DuPage County Board Member Greg Hart has been actively preparing his campaign to launch as soon as Cronin announces his intentions.
I checked with Rep. Conroy and she is, indeed, giving it some thought.
Former AFSCME Local 46 President Gregg Johnson will run as a Democrat for Mike Halpin’s seat in the Illinois State House of Representatives.
“I’m running for State Rep because I believe our community deserves the same opportunities and investments as we are seeing in other parts of the State, in particular, Chicago,” Johnson told Local 4 News. “People in this community aren’t looking for handouts, they just want an opportunity to work hard for fair wages and to build a better life. We want safe neighborhoods where our kids can attend good schools, we want healthcare that we can afford, and leaders that can be trusted with our tax dollars. I want to go to Springfield and fight for those values because that’s how you build a strong middle class, the one that I grew up in decades ago.”
Halpin announced Wednesday he’s running for Illinois State Senate.
Liz Chaplin is the worst choice among Dems to flip the office of County Chairman. She’s been on the board 10 years and has nothing to show for it. Conroy is their best bet to flip the office. Hart is the best choice the R’s have in keeping that office. Hart’s a rising star in DuPage, works across the aisle, and has good strategy. Notably absent from Poltiico is Pete DiCianni’s candidacy for Chairman, but he isn’t blessed by Cronin and has made a fatal error in ‘18 going against the now Sheriff, Jim Mendrick. Hart v. Conroy will be a huge anticipated match-up.
The Sullivan video will hit lots of the right notes for GOP primary voters - guns, religion (though sometimes tensions exist between Evangelicals and Catholics), pickups, and (mostly) white people. Found the use of the military and county sheriff imagery interesting. Will need to better explain his Afghanistan role - seems to be purposefully blurring the lines and implying was on active duty appearing in a uniform and using phrases like “served my country.”
It will be interesting to see what Jesse Sullivan means for the larger field of Republicans running. Do Bailey and Rabine split the Trump vote? Does another “moderate” candidate throw his or her hat into the ring? More questions than answers at this point.
- East Central IL - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:42 pm:
When I saw the Sullivan commercial, first thought I had were of Jack Ryan and his run for US Senate. Looked good on paper, but it didn’t match reality.
The reference at the 1:30 point in the video to “serve my country in Afghanistan doing counterinsurgency with the Department of Defense” as well as the images of Sullivan in cammo gear seem intended to imply that he served in the U.S. military.
Which he apparently did not, according to his LinkedIn page. He was a “strategic analyst” for the Defense Department for 18 months, not active duty military.
He hired some folks from Mitt Romney’s campaign, and Romney won Illinois pretty easily over Santorum, Gingrich and Paul. So he’s got that going for him.
This Sully is the best so far in the race. Let’s see how it develops. Maybe it’s something with the name since the 3 retired Sully Legislators were each outstanding!
That commercial is just a super long series of key words for a mid 2010s era conservative blog. I thought it was a commercial for a House or ILGA candidate, not a statewide candidate, no way
Well Mr. Sullivan doesn’t wear a motorcycle vest and he doesn’t drop his g’s. He didn’t start the video with “Hello friends” and I didn’t see Tom DeVore. He might stand a chance.
It is a beautiful ad. Beautiful papering over lies. I don’t know anything about him and now I still don’t know that much about him. You lost me at shooting the guns. But it will work for some.Especially those for whom body image is a thing.
Prominent cheek bones must be an electoral advantage.
- Back to the Future - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:19 pm:
Wondering if he can beat Bailey and the other group of hopefuls. Right now thinking he can.
His websites for Alter and his campaign made a nice first impression on me.
One thing that bothered me was a reference on his campaign website to Pritzker being investigated by the federal folks. Hoping we are not going to go over the toilet stuff again. He paid the taxes- - time to move on.
Production values are over the top on the video. It’s pretty - lots of drone shots. Like the walking along the L in Chicago and then BOOM in a Menard County farm field.
For now it feels like he’s trying to play dress up.
Sweet, sweet Jesse. It’s going to take a lot more than staged Hand of Fate beer garden speeches, surrounded by extended family and the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, to win this race for Menard County Board. This had all the appeal of a 1997 car commercial… but, alas, that jawline! [Banned emoji]. Anyone else have a mild seizure from the “film reel” effect they used??
-seem intended to imply that he served in the U.S. military-
Right. If he wanted to be completely honest, he could have run the same ad and said “I was proud to work in Afghanistan alongside our troops to help improve conditions for local residents…” or something similar. That would be a perfectly fine, nice story on its own. But apparently he and/or the consultants didn’t want to do that. That could backfire.
I’m less concerned about Gregg’s temperament (which is great) and more concerned about how he’ll help the people in his district. If that’s your main concern maybe you should leave politics behind and get into dog grooming or beauty pageants.
- DuPagean - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:14 pm:
Liz Chaplin is the worst choice among Dems to flip the office of County Chairman. She’s been on the board 10 years and has nothing to show for it. Conroy is their best bet to flip the office. Hart is the best choice the R’s have in keeping that office. Hart’s a rising star in DuPage, works across the aisle, and has good strategy. Notably absent from Poltiico is Pete DiCianni’s candidacy for Chairman, but he isn’t blessed by Cronin and has made a fatal error in ‘18 going against the now Sheriff, Jim Mendrick. Hart v. Conroy will be a huge anticipated match-up.
- Nick - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:15 pm:
A San Francisco Venture Capitalist with West Coast Money who loves crypto seems *designed* to personally annoy me.
Bravo.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:19 pm:
I couldn’t get past one minute of that Sullivan video…this is going to be the biggest ego trip of the race, and that’s saying something.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:20 pm:
The Sullivan video will hit lots of the right notes for GOP primary voters - guns, religion (though sometimes tensions exist between Evangelicals and Catholics), pickups, and (mostly) white people. Found the use of the military and county sheriff imagery interesting. Will need to better explain his Afghanistan role - seems to be purposefully blurring the lines and implying was on active duty appearing in a uniform and using phrases like “served my country.”
- Pundent - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:21 pm:
It will be interesting to see what Jesse Sullivan means for the larger field of Republicans running. Do Bailey and Rabine split the Trump vote? Does another “moderate” candidate throw his or her hat into the ring? More questions than answers at this point.
- Moi - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:30 pm:
Jesse Sullivan doesn’t believe in wearing seatbelts, unless I’m missing something.
- East Central IL - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:42 pm:
When I saw the Sullivan commercial, first thought I had were of Jack Ryan and his run for US Senate. Looked good on paper, but it didn’t match reality.
- Moe Berg - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:44 pm:
Jesse Sullivan doesn’t like “handouts”, but I suspect he’s very cool with farm subsidies and lower capital gains taxes.
Handouts are in the eye of the beholder.
His VC firm “team,” includes no Black people, but he did make sure to include some in his pricey intro video.
His campaign is funded by California tech zillionaires and he’s carrying on about “insiders.”
Speaking of Bruce Rauner, Sullivan’s a younger version, but just as phony and egocentric.
Happy for the consultants, though, who are going to pluck themselves some California pigeons.
Enjoy that ego trip, Jesse. Can you share with us where you are on the Texas abortion law, vaccines, Trump and global warming, just to get started?
- JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:44 pm:
Sullivan’s ad is nothing but the usual pablum for politicians (if you are a gazillionaire and a politician you are not an outsider).
He is going to have to run something different to appeal to Cook and the collar counties, that is for sure.
- Chicago Bob - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:54 pm:
NIU says “I couldn’t get past one minute of that Sullivan video…this is going to be the biggest ego trip of the race, and that’s saying something.”
Yet NIU took the time to comment. The video is good but he’ll need a lot more
- Friendly Bob Adams - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:56 pm:
The reference at the 1:30 point in the video to “serve my country in Afghanistan doing counterinsurgency with the Department of Defense” as well as the images of Sullivan in cammo gear seem intended to imply that he served in the U.S. military.
Which he apparently did not, according to his LinkedIn page. He was a “strategic analyst” for the Defense Department for 18 months, not active duty military.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 1:58 pm:
He hired some folks from Mitt Romney’s campaign, and Romney won Illinois pretty easily over Santorum, Gingrich and Paul. So he’s got that going for him.
OTOH, it’s not 2012 anymore, far from it.
- Concerned - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 2:05 pm:
This Sully is the best so far in the race. Let’s see how it develops. Maybe it’s something with the name since the 3 retired Sully Legislators were each outstanding!
- SWIL_Voter - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 2:26 pm:
That commercial is just a super long series of key words for a mid 2010s era conservative blog. I thought it was a commercial for a House or ILGA candidate, not a statewide candidate, no way
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 2:37 pm:
At least Sullivan was not on a motorcycle
- Club J - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 2:57 pm:
Well Mr. Sullivan doesn’t wear a motorcycle vest and he doesn’t drop his g’s. He didn’t start the video with “Hello friends” and I didn’t see Tom DeVore. He might stand a chance.
- Amalia - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:03 pm:
It is a beautiful ad. Beautiful papering over lies. I don’t know anything about him and now I still don’t know that much about him. You lost me at shooting the guns. But it will work for some.Especially those for whom body image is a thing.
- Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:19 pm:
Prominent cheek bones must be an electoral advantage.
- Back to the Future - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:19 pm:
Wondering if he can beat Bailey and the other group of hopefuls. Right now thinking he can.
His websites for Alter and his campaign made a nice first impression on me.
One thing that bothered me was a reference on his campaign website to Pritzker being investigated by the federal folks. Hoping we are not going to go over the toilet stuff again. He paid the taxes- - time to move on.
- Cool Papa Bell - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:20 pm:
Production values are over the top on the video. It’s pretty - lots of drone shots. Like the walking along the L in Chicago and then BOOM in a Menard County farm field.
For now it feels like he’s trying to play dress up.
- Moved East - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:31 pm:
As someone who has personally met Gregg Johnson on many occasions, I can tell you he does not have the right temperament for State House.
- City Zen - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:42 pm:
The hard-written notes in the bible at the 1:12 mark are a bit on-the-nose.
- City Zen - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:48 pm:
==seem intended to imply that he served in the U.S. military.==
Already covered by SJR in detail 10 years ago, although that article ends:
“I’d always say, ‘OK, God, I’ll do anything that you want me to do in this life, but please don’t make me a priest or a politician,’ ” he said.
https://www.sj-r.com/article/20120506/NEWS/305069973
- Eastern Bloc Mitigation - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:48 pm:
OK so Sullivan is another venture capital / private equity guy in a hunter’s costume talking about a turnaround agenda. Got it.
- Petersburger & Fries - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:57 pm:
Sweet, sweet Jesse. It’s going to take a lot more than staged Hand of Fate beer garden speeches, surrounded by extended family and the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, to win this race for Menard County Board. This had all the appeal of a 1997 car commercial… but, alas, that jawline! [Banned emoji]. Anyone else have a mild seizure from the “film reel” effect they used??
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 3:58 pm:
-seem intended to imply that he served in the U.S. military-
Right. If he wanted to be completely honest, he could have run the same ad and said “I was proud to work in Afghanistan alongside our troops to help improve conditions for local residents…” or something similar. That would be a perfectly fine, nice story on its own. But apparently he and/or the consultants didn’t want to do that. That could backfire.
- Just Me 2 - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 4:29 pm:
I miss the mountains in Illinois campaign ads from novices that show off our agriculture.
- DrurysMissingClock - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 6:32 pm:
@Moved East
I’m less concerned about Gregg’s temperament (which is great) and more concerned about how he’ll help the people in his district. If that’s your main concern maybe you should leave politics behind and get into dog grooming or beauty pageants.
- Coco - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 8:25 pm:
Jesse Sullivan sounds like Rauner 2.0
- low level - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 10:29 pm:
The DuPage County Chair will be a Democrat next year. Trump has finished them off. It doesn’t matter who the Repubs run.
- low level - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 10:35 pm:
As for Sullivan’s commercial, the images of Chicago and his riding the L won’t go over well with primary voters who hate the city and want to secede.