Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Question of the day
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Question of the day

Monday, Mar 31, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Capitol News Illinois earlier this month

Though municipal and school board races in Illinois are nonpartisan, voters may see many of the same political themes that were hallmarks of races during the 2024 presidential election cycle. The Democratic Party of Illinois is applying many of the same tactics it uses in partisan elections to this year’s local races.

“We as the Democratic Party of Illinois should be defending Democratic values in every single election in nonpartisan and partisan elections alike, because all of these local offices have jurisdiction over super critical controls and we think our party has the best platform for governance,” Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Ben Hardin said.

The 2025 local elections are the second time that Illinois Democrats are getting involved in nonpartisan races. After recruiting more than 1,000 prospective candidates last year, the state party is supporting 270 candidates for a variety of local offices in all areas of the state.

The party trained the candidates and attached them to “coaches” experienced in running Democratic campaigns. Candidates will also be supported by a six-figure advertising campaign by DPI in the coming weeks.

* WGLT today

Normal mayoral candidate Kathleen Lorenz faced criticism Sunday from one of her two opponents after accepting a $28,000 campaign contribution from the McLean County Republicans that she said was really a pass-through contribution from a specific donor.

Lorenz told WGLT late Saturday that she coordinated with the donor to route the money through the McLean County Republicans, which was at the donor’s request. Lorenz said the “ridiculous amount of money” was critical to paying for three weeks of advertising during the homestretch of the campaign. She said that advertising gave her a better chance to win against a favored incumbent.

Lorenz would not identify the donor, but she confirmed that the $28,000 she received from the McLean County Republicans last week came from him. The election is Tuesday.

Typically, an individual is capped at $7,300 in contributions to a candidate campaign committee like Lorenz’s, based on state contribution limits. However, individuals can give larger sums to political party committees like the McLean County Republicans, and there is no limit to how much political party committees can give to candidate campaign committees.

* More from WGLT

[I]n a Facebook post Saturday, [incumbent Chris Koos’] campaign said, “the McLean County GOP is trying to buy this race.”

“So it’s worth saying again: Mayor is a nonpartisan position. And our community deserves a leader like Mayor Koos who puts people over politics,” Koos’ campaign wrote. […]

Koos, meanwhile, picked up endorsements from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, and former Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger in the last few days.

Bloomington and Normal mayoral and council elections are technically nonpartisan, although both McLean County Republicans and Democrats have endorsed candidates anyway. Again, Lorenz disputed that what the local GOP has done constitutes an endorsement.

* Daily Herald

The McHenry County Democratic Party is promoting candidates in more than 90 local races this cycle. Democratic township organizations in the Wheeling, Elk Grove and Mundelein areas are among those pushing their preferred candidates, too.

In Naperville, Democratic U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Bill Foster are actively campaigning for city council candidates Benny White, Mary Gibson, Ian Holzhauer and Ashfaq Syed and park district hopefuls Rhonda Ansier, Leslie Ruffing, Alison Thompson and Aishwarya Balakrihna. […]

DuPage County Republican Party Chair Kevin Coyne responded on social media by endorsing Naperville City Council candidates Derek McDaniel, Jennifer Taylor and Meghna Bansal.

Coyne’s activity this cycle doesn’t end there. Although not strictly a partisan organization, the Safe Suburbs USA political action committee he founded and leads has endorsed dozens of suburban candidates.

* The Question: Should local elections remain “non-partisan”? Make sure to explain you answer.

       

33 Comments »
  1. - Donnie Elgin - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:12 pm:

    =Should local elections remain “non-partisan”=

    Absolutely yes—we need candidates who care about the office, such as the village, school, or library board. Keep the partisans out—they bring the baggage of adhering to a national or state platform, and many are simply resume padding to run for higher office.


  2. - Homebody - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:31 pm:

    The concept of non-partisan elections is a joke. This is true whether you’re talking Mayor of Chicago, Supreme Court justices, or local dog catcher. Everyone will still line up behind their preferred candidate, and it will still be along party lines, but everyone is going to play make believe and pretend it isn’t.

    What I’d rather see is ranked choice elections, rather than primary or run off set ups. Partisans can still be openly partisan (instead of pretending not to be), but won’t cause cannibalization between people who are slightly different flavors of the same ideology. The results should better reflect the aggregate desires of the electorate.


  3. - Save Ferris - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:35 pm:

    Schools and villages, yes. It’s hard enough to get people, good people, to run for office. And these offices are generally extremely low paid or unpaid (as they should be). If you aren’t running and getting a paycheck, that means you need a paycheck from somewhere else. It’s much easier to have a job where people you are selling to don’t learn who you are via a D or R label and apply their personal opinions of those labels to you. Keeping a national label off individuals who are seeking essentially volunteer positions is a good way to get good people to run.


  4. - Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:36 pm:

    ===after accepting a $28,000 campaign contribution from the McLean County Republicans that she said was really a pass-through contribution from a specific donor===

    The only person who appears to have donated that much is Heather Hall Shepard, who lives in Lakewood Ranch, FL. She’s the daughter of former state Sen. Harber Hall. https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/15/jones-petrilli-interested-in-challenging/1522098007/


  5. - Stopped by a train in Franklin Park - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:42 pm:

    We should get rid of “nonpartisan” elections in Illinois, move to a rank-choice voting system, and move the date to coincide with primaries or the general election so more people go out and vote.


  6. - Give Me A Break - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:44 pm:

    Springfield is great example of partisan “non-partisan” elections.

    The worst kept secret in Springfield are which city council candidates are backed by the local parties.

    Good ole boy Chuck Redpath has used the system to win with the backing of the Dems when he called himself a Dem and part of the Tim Davlin crew, then he won as Republican with the backing of the GOP when he moved to a Republican leaning ward.

    The Sangamon County GOP has always used those “non-partisan” elected positions as their farm team.


  7. - TJ - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:44 pm:

    “Non-partisan” elections have always been nonsensical to me. If someone wants to run as an independent, by all means do so, but I don’t think there should be a prohibition against actual political party identifications being listed as that’s meaningful information to have for candidates that otherwise might be hard to research. Plus, maybe it makes sense for assorted towns and counties to have their own localized third parties akin to Cincinnati having a Charter Party that’s locally extremely relevant.

    Having non-partisan be the default just lets obvious pushers of particular party agendas to try to sneak in.


  8. - Donnie Elgin - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:52 pm:

    =after accepting a $28,000 campaign contribution from the McLean County Republicans=

    Koos has been cashing big union/Dem checks the past few weeks..

    $1,000 Plumbers, $2,500 Laborers, $5,000 Laborers North Central PAC, $5000 Luna/AFLCIO, $1000 Prairie PAC (Durbin), $3000 Jeffrey Tinervin ( dem super donner)


  9. - @misterjayem - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 12:55 pm:

    “Should local elections remain ‘non-partisan’?”

    Political parties are a tool that allows voters to easily determine which candidate most closely aligns with their attitudes, values and beliefs.

    I want more citizens to vote, and for them to know what kind of person they are voting for, so I would welcome the end of “non-partisan” elections.

    – MrJM


  10. - James - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:00 pm:

    I hope we keep them non-partisan. That last thing any of us need are more partisan politics.


  11. - Jack in Chatham - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:01 pm:

    I favor keeping them non-partisan. I am more concerned with big Citizens United money interference in the other parties primary. Senator Adam Schiff in California spent more money selecting his Republican opponent than on his own election. Governor Pritzker has done the same using the Democrats National Governor’s Association as a conduit. When you are selecting your opposition it is not democracy but an oligarchy.


  12. - AlfondoGonz - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:07 pm:

    While local issues usually have next to nothing to do with national politics, we’re at a place now where I think I can fairly ascertain enough about someone based on which party they identify with.

    This past weekend, as I left the gym in Highland Park, a candidate for local office was campaigning outside. He handed me some literature which I browsed before asking him a question that would wholly determine whether or not I would ever consider supporting him:

    “Who did you vote for in the most recent presidential election.”

    He declined to answer. Cowards need not apply.

    I sadly answer no.


  13. - Henry Francis - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:08 pm:

    == Senator Adam Schiff in California spent more money selecting his Republican opponent than on his own election==

    That was a nonpartisan blanket primary.

    Regrettably, “partisanship” has become integrated into too many facets of our everyday lives. Taking it out of our elections is one of the last places I would be looking to remove it from.


  14. - Donnie Elgin - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:19 pm:

    = Jeffrey Tinervin ( dem super donner)=

    My bad Tinervin is mostly a GOP donor


  15. - We've never had one before - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:21 pm:

    Non-partisan elections:
    No such thing. We can tell ourselves the big lie, but it changes nothing. All Illinois elections are partisan, or they are now. We should take off the blindfolds now and have a look.

    How would change to partisan local elections work? Could it be done without having to have primary elections?


  16. - Give Us Barabbas - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:23 pm:

    Agree with Homebody and the others that the so called non partisan races are/ have been a fig leaf forever. I also think ranked choice is something to try out for these lower tier races.

    I used to think in a non- partisan way about these offices, preferring to pick based on how well I thought the candidate would do the job, but the desperate times we live in now have caused me to become unapologetic about rejecting GOP candidates at every level, because of their support of Trump and authoritarianism. There are no “Eisenhower Republicans” left, only cult members, and we can’t afford to elect a single new one of those, not even for dog catcher. Every new abuse at the federal level just radicalizes me more and more. I will never vote for another republican in my lifetime.


  17. - 47th Ward - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:25 pm:

    ===$3000 Jeffrey Tinervin===

    He is one of the biggest apartment building owners in Normal. He’s made bank on the backs of students for generations.

    Sadly, too few ISU students bother vote in local elections. Or maybe that’s changed. If it has, highlighting Tinervin’s donations to the incumbent Mayor could be a good issue for the opposition. Unless students enjoy being exploited, in that case, Koos is your guy.


  18. - Socially DIstant Watcher - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:27 pm:

    @Jack in Chatham: The voters selected the candidates. Schiff and Pritzker have spent money promoting other candidates, but if elements of the Republican party weren’t so gung ho on purity tests that they favor candidates who stand little chance of winning a general election, it wouldn’t work.


  19. - H-W - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:34 pm:

    I believe they should remain non-partisan for a host of reasons including “just look at what partisanship has done since over the past 15 years?”

    Indeed, I believe most local elections need to be better regulated so as to prevent the obfuscation of local interests by political action committees and party politics.

    Partisan solutions for local issues rarely address the issues, much less their causal factors. By way of example, “Tough on Crime” does not address the nature of criminal activity in a specific community. Instead, it assumes all criminals are the same, and incarceration is the effective solution. It is not. Incarceration has never worked in the context of reducing crime or in re-socializaing criminals. More important, “Tough on Crime” does not explain why crime rates vary across communities, nor explain why teens and young adults commit crimes.

    Partisan politics simply does not apply to the realities of localities with the possible exceptions of the extremely rural areas and the extremely urban communities. Partisan politics rarely apply to the middle, where the vast majority of us live in communities that exist in a real world of diverse and localistic interests and unique needs. At the local level, we need local expertise, not national pontifications.


  20. - Manchester - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:37 pm:

    There is no such thing as a non-partisan election anymore and has existed in name only for quite some time. The Republican party no longer exists as far as I’m concerned. It’s been replaced by MAGA. Frankly, I want to know if someone identifies with the Republican/MAGA party so that I can vote for anybody else.


  21. - Arsenal - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:39 pm:

    I don’t think so, because partisan affiliation is valuable information for voters. If you know what party a politician belongs to, you largely know what they’re going to do in office.

    That being said, if we’re talking about a dramatic change to how these races are run anyway, then it needs to be easier for third parties or independents to get on these ballots to sort of counterbalance the advantage that the big two parties have.


  22. - Alton Sinkhole - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:40 pm:

    On all except judicial, sure.


  23. - thisjustinagain - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 1:53 pm:

    Time to end another Illinois fantasy by doing away with the non-partisan label entirely. Only those wishing to be fooled are by the non-partisan status.


  24. - CNA - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 2:17 pm:

    I would prefer to see municipal and other local races stay nonpartisan because it keeps the focus on problem solving. The more partisan nature of these races is a break from the past, when most voters were turned off by party politics.

    Orland Park is instructive. For more than 20 years Dan McLaughlin, a Democrat, was mayor and he went out of his way to maintain a nonpartisan feel, largely because it was not advantageous in a Republican-leaning town to remind people he was a Dem. He was defeated by the current mayor, Keith Pekau, a Republican, who has gone out of his way to inject partisan politics into village politics — from very publicly criticizing Pritzker over pandemic closure and the Safe-T Act, to reveling in verbal clashes with the town’s growing Arab population. His opponent tomorrow is also a Republican, but he is taking a much less partisan approach to campaigning, which has won him the support of McLaughlin, the unions, and some in the Arab community. It will be interesting to see which tactic works.


  25. - John Lopez - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 2:41 pm:

    Many municipalities have partisan elections unless the voters of that city/village through referendum decided their city councils/village boards are elected in “nonpartisan” elections.

    Cities like Aurora, Naperville, Elgin, Crystal Lake and Woodstock opted to do this over the years.

    Many villages issue “Independent” petitions and why these villages have candidates with word “Independent” next to their names. Candidates file on the petition forms for “independent” candidates, and no partisan candidates listed on ballot.

    10 years ago, the village of Oswego in Kendall County started changing from all-candidates-run-as-independents to running as Republicans & Democrats.

    This year and 2 years ago, Republicans had to have a municipal primary because more Republicans filed for the same offices.

    Oswego has Republicans and Democrats listed on the ballot. Two years ago, Democrats swept the Consolidated election.

    Is this the best way to go? Sure, given voter turnout could increase out of party loyalty.

    But for a municipal that switched in recent past, Oswego is it.

    It should be noted the village of Skokie switched to nonpartisan village board elections this year through referendum in 2022 and the city of Evanston switched to nonpartisan city council elections by referendum in 2020.


  26. - Donnie Elgin - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 2:46 pm:

    =He’s made bank on the backs of students for generations=

    Is that Young America Reality? I was writing checks to them back in the mid-1980s


  27. - Save Ferris - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 2:49 pm:

    100% in favor of non-partisan elections with top-4 ranked choice voting. But I still want to keep the D and R labels out of the municipals.


  28. - hisgirlfriday - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 3:17 pm:

    @Donnie Elgin - And Kathleen Lorenz also got 4 figures from the realtors pac, plumbers & pipefitters union, and operating engineers union. What is your point bringing up Koos’s donors if Koos is not denying their support or using pass-through entities to get around campaign donation limits?

    The issue is Lorenz being shady in who her financial supporters are and what viewpoint she aligns with when taking money from McLean County GOP yet claiming they don’t support her.

    To Rich’s question, I am fine with us continuing with nominally non-partisan elections for mayoral races but find there is a bit of a disconnect when we have these supposedly non-partisan mayoral contests going in the same municipal elections as the explicitly partisan township supervisor races. What is the point of having those partisan but not mayoral/council contests?


  29. - old guy - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 3:32 pm:

    The era of Pres. Felon from the moment he came down the golden escalator has ended any hope of anything being non-artisan.


  30. - Anonymous - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 5:19 pm:

    Agree 100% with MrJM at 12:55.


  31. - Lincoln Lad - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 5:20 pm:

    That was me at 5:19


  32. - Tequila Mockingbird - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 6:51 pm:

    Non partisan is better. Don’t apply your perception to everyone else.
    I have served 20 years or 5 terms as a school board member. I have no idea how my fellow board members lean wether R or D and it works just fine that way. I might have suspicions but it doesn’t matter if we remain focused on our role.
    Nothing to gain and I wouldn’t even run if I had to declare a party.

    Because partisan politics works so well everywhere else?


  33. - anon2 - Monday, Mar 31, 25 @ 9:15 pm:

    Schaumburg voted to go nonpartisan in the 80s.It has worked well.


TrackBack URI

Anonymous commenters, uncivil comments, rumor-mongering and profanity of any kind will be deleted.



* Consolidated Election night open thread (Updated)
* ISBE says Trump administration is clawing back $77 million in already obligated grants
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
* Musical interlude: Happy Cheap Trick Day!
* AG Raoul joins lawsuit against Trump administration’s decision to rescind billions in health funding
* Study finds Illinois homeowners insurance premiums skyrocketed 50 percent between 2021 and 2024 (Updated)
* Mayor, CPZ lay out Chicago’s top 5 state legislative priorities (Updated)
* It’s just a bill
* Powering Illinois' Energy And Economic Future
* Question of the day
* Apparently, it was not a well-pleaded case
* Ironworkers: The Backbone of Our Energy Storage and Green Transition Economy
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller