Campaign coverage roundup
Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Oops…
* Speaking of oops. AP…
A county board incumbent in Illinois wants election officials to disqualify his primary opponent because he misspelled “Republican” on his nomination papers.
McHenry County Board member Eric Hendricks has filed an objection to primary opponent Bob Nowak’s candidacy, the Northwest Herald reported Wednesday.
Hendricks wrote in the objection that Nowak filed to run as a member of the “Republian Party,” omitting the “c” in “Republican.” Hendricks argues such a party does not exist.
Nowak said he had heard there was an objection to his candidacy but hasn’t seen a copy of it.
County officials have scheduled a hearing on the objection for Tuesday. The primary is March 19.
* Patch…
An Elmhurst alderwoman running for state representative on Monday praised Illinois’ achievements over the last few years.
“Illinois has made progress on important issues in recent years and is moving in the right direction as demonstrated by nine credit rating upgrades since June of 2021,” Alderwoman Marti Deuter, a Democrat, said in a news release about her candidacy. “There is more to be done, and we need legislators with a demonstrated ability to bring people together.”
A month ago, Patch reported on Deuter’s candidacy. That was after Rep. Jenn Ladisch Douglass, an Elmhurst Democrat, announced she would not seek a second term. […]
Deuter, an alderwoman for a decade, is set to run unopposed in the Democratic primary in March. The only Republican candidate is Dennis Reboletti.
* NPR…
Joe McGraw of Rockford and Scott Alan Crowl of Milan are both seeking the Republican nomination in the 17th congressional district. The winner of the primary will face Democratic incumbent Eric Sorensen next November, who’s unopposed in his party’s primary.
In the 99th state representative district, Republicans Kyle Moore of Quincy and Eric Snellgrove of Beardstown filed to replace Republican Representative Randy Frese, who isn’t running for a sixth term. No Democratic candidates have filed in that district.
Elsewhere in the region, several Republicans are running unopposed in their primaries — and in each case, no Democratic candidate filed.
They are Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White, Ninth District Circuit Judge Nigel Graham, Congresswoman Mary Miller, and state representatives Norine Hammond and Dan Swanson.
* Subscribers know more…
An initiative designed to let Illinois voters truly make decisions when they go to the polls again succeeded in putting Illinois Statehouse candidates on the 2024 ballot.
Illinois Policy, a 501(c)(4) advocacy partner of the Illinois Policy Institute, helped usher 27 Illinois General Assembly candidates through the process, including collecting signatures on nominating petitions.
These candidates represent a significant share of the 2024 contested races. Without the new candidate program, Illinois would have seen a low number of choices and its more traditional list of unchallenged incumbents. According to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis, 207 candidates have filed to run for 118 Illinois House of Representatives seats in 2024. These include about 10 contested Republican primaries, 20 contested Democratic primaries and 53 contested general election races.
For over 20 years, less than half of all Illinois House races had just one candidate on the ballot – the least competitive rate in the Midwest and the seventh worst in the nation.
Among Illinois Policy’s recruited candidates:
• 24 are Republicans and three are Democrats
• 12 are women
• 8 are non-white
• 16 are running in districts that are wholly or partially in Chicago
Research shows contested elections help lower corruption, make government more responsive and increase voter turnout.
“Thanks to these candidates being willing to challenge entrenched incumbents, Illinois will experience real choice on Election Day and will be able to hold lawmakers accountable. That is good news that Illinois voters can feel proud of,” said Josh Bandoch, head of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. “It’s amazing to see candidates take on this responsibility, especially considering how partisan gerrymandering leads voters to feel powerless to foster change in the voting booth.”
The number of contested races will change during the next six months as candidacies are challenged and political parties “slate” candidates for races.
…Adding…Jake Lewis…
* More…
* WLBK | Stage being set for 14th District Congressional race: Two years ago several viable candidates were gunning for the GOP nomination. This time around Jim Marter says he’s the only serious contender for the March Primary. Two other people filed as Republicans.
* Pantagraph | 53rd Senate District candidate faces objection to nominating petition: An objection has been filed with the Illinois Board of Elections for one of the four candidates vying for McLean County’s state Senate seat. Joshua Belter of Pontiac, Matthew Snider of Benson and Brooke Uphoff of El Paso have filed an objection against Livingston County Board Member Mike Kirkton, who is running in the Illinois 53rd Senate District. All four candidates are Republicans.
* Landmark | RBHS school board member Laura Hruska files to run for state representative: Hruska, a longtime resident of Brookfield, is running for state representative, challenging 2nd District incumbent Democrat Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, who is an assistant majority leader in the Illinois House of Representatives and the chairwoman of the Illinois Democratic Party. Neither Hruska nor Hernandez has a primary opponent, so Hruska is guaranteed to face Hernandez in the November general election.
* Shaw Local | No primary election petition challenges in DuPage County: There were no primary candidate petition challenges filed for 2024 local races – the second major election cycle in a row with no ballot objections in the county, DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek has announced in a news release. “It was unprecedented in 2022 when no candidate petition challenges were filed here,” Kaczmarek said. “We just surpassed our own record.”
* Patch | Will County Judge Anderson To Seek Seat On Illinois Appellate Court: Anderson, a former Will County Board member, has served as a county circuit court judge since 2010. He will be on the ballot for the March primary election to represent the 3rd District, which includes Will, Kankakee, DuPage, Grundy, LaSalle, Bureau, and Iroquois counties.
* Journal and Topics | Local Reps In Congress, State Senate, House, Judicial Candidates Filing To Run In March 2024 Primary: A petition challenge period, where challenges to the validity of signatures will be adjudicated, and some candidates could be removed from the ballot, will take place in the coming weeks. Where there is no candidate in a given party for a given race, township political committeemen may later name a candidate. Candidates may also later mount write-in candidate drives.
- Just Me 2 - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 12:13 pm:
We can make fun of IPI all we want, and they most always deserve it, but doing the work of getting a candidate on the ballot and forcing the incumbent to earn their re-election is the best way of keeping pols centered with at least one foot in reality. Those that have a cake walk every two years can loose touch.
- Lordy lordy - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 12:45 pm:
That’s a wholly frivolous objection re the typo on “Republican.” If the local electoral board doesn’t throw that objection out the circuit court will immediately on appeal. If I lived there I would vote against that incumbent just for wasting everyone’s time with something so petty which goes against all election law precedent in this state. Shame on that incumbent.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 12:50 pm:
“Illinois Policy Institute, helped usher 27 Illinois General Assembly candidates”
They didn’t learn last time they got beat badly, like with school board races?
It doesn’t matter how many candidates the IPI puts out to challenge the status quo. Illinoisans reject right wing ideology. Especially now that unions are helping add thousands of jobs to Illinois via the UAW. And state government managing finances better and having closing funds to attract manufacturing like the Gotion plant. Unions are not only raising wages for their members, they’re also responsible for wage increases in non-union vehicle plants. So that’s a “no, thanks” to the IPI.
- JoanP - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 1:26 pm:
Let he who has never made a typo cast the first challenge.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 1:29 pm:
“That’s a wholly frivolous objection”
Aw man, that’s nothing to what has happened in other years.
I will say though, the past few years have really calmed down on the nonsense levels for petition challenges. Back in the early-to-mid ’10s seemed like the high water mark, at least locally, for ballot challenge frivolity.
- Banish Misfortune - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 1:33 pm:
Typo frivolous? Someone got kicked off because it was required to have petitions stapled and numbered. It was done in reverse order, numbered then stapled, proved by the fact that staples were over some of the numbers.
- RNUG - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 3:00 pm:
Illinois has raised ballot disqualification to a high art. It may seem frivolous to us, but it’s a serious game to the political parties. Half of the game is knocking out your opponent before they get on the ballot.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Dec 15, 23 @ 3:07 pm:
The curious case of Danny Davis who seems to inexplicably be aging backward