GOP aims for small victories in fight against Democratic control of state legislature
While Democrats face little risk of losing their supermajorities in both state legislative chambers Tuesday night, the party is tapping into its considerable financial resources to back candidates in contests where Republicans have a chance to make inroads.
All 118 state House seats and 24 of the 59 state Senate seats were up for election, and the state’s Democrats have had a huge financial advantage during campaigns across the state thanks to sources including billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker.
Through September, the state Democratic Party and the Illinois House Democrats’ campaign arm reported a combined $5.56 million in their campaign coffers after spending $7.67 million in the past quarter, according to the State Board of Elections. The state Republican Party and the House Republicans’ campaign group altogether had $1.07 million on hand after spending $3.35 million in that quarter, records show.
Knowing they face an uphill battle, House Republicans have said they were targeting only a handful of seats in this election as part of a 10-year plan that will carry them through the 2030 census, when new legislative maps will be drawn.
Among potentially competitive contests was the race for an open seat in a district that covers a section of DuPage County and a small sliver of Cook. Elmhurst City Councilwoman Martha “Marti” Deuter, a Democrat, is running against Dennis Reboletti, a former Republican House member looking to reclaim his seat.
Democrat Jenn Ladisch Douglass of Elmhurst flipped the seat two years ago when she narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Deanne Mazzochi. Douglass chose not to run for reelection.
Deuter, who has been on the Elmhurst City Council for over a decade, works for a nonprofit that provides housing and support services for people transitioning out of homelessness. Reboletti, also of Elmhurst, is the supervisor for Addison Township. He served in the General Assembly from 2007 to 2015 and at one time held a leadership position within the House GOP. Since leaving the legislature he lost two bids for a state Senate seat.
In the south suburbs, freshman Rep. Harry Benton of Plainfield is seeking to defend a seat that he flipped for Democrats after veteran Republican Rep. Mark Batinick stepped down in 2023. Benton’s Republican opponent, Gabby Shanahan of Joliet, is an executive assistant at the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute.
Benton cites accomplishments during his term including his support of legislation to cut down on so-called junk fees and prescription drug costs. Shanahan has said her priorities included working to lower property taxes and manage inflation and the cost of living.
Benton took in about $1 million between July 1 and mid-October, including a single transfer of nearly half a million dollars from the House Democrats’ campaign arm, records show. The organization supporting House Republicans is similarly funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in support to Shanahan, including for so-called in-kind contributions for campaignstaff, ads and consulting, according to recent disclosures.
In a northwest suburban district that includes swaths of Lake and McHenry counties, Republican Rep. Martin McLaughlin is vying for a third term against Democrat Maria Peterson of North Barrington, who has worked as a labor attorney and once owned a fitness business.
Democrats have provided Peterson with far greater financial backing than Republicans have given McLaughlin, a former village president of Barrington Hills, records show.
At 25, Democratic freshman Rep. Nabeela Syed of Palatine is one of the youngest members of the General Assembly. She flipped her northwest suburban seat blue two years ago and is getting major financial backing from Democrats in her bid to win a second term, this time in a race against Republican Tosi Ufodike of Hawthorn Woods.
Syed has prioritized abortion rights and gun reform, but also has been a moderate on fiscal issues. During the spring legislative session she was one of a handful of Democrats to vote against parts of a state budget package that included hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases.
Ufodike, a trustee on the Ela Township Board, has said the district needs “better representation” to address the cost of living and bring down government spending. She has not received as much financial support from her party as some other candidates in competitive races.
Democrat Amy “Murri” Briel is squaring off against Republican Liz Bishop in another open seat, for a district that stretches from DeKalb south and then west along the Illinois River Valley. Democratic Rep. Lance Yednock of Ottawa holds the seat but decided not to run for a fourth term.
Briel, also of Ottawa, is Yednock’s former chief of staff and Bishop has served as a deputy state central committeewoman for the Illinois GOP. Briel has emphasized her support for abortion rights while Bishop has said her background in finance could serve her well as a steward for the state’s budget.
A potentially contentious race in a south suburban and exurban district has Democratic Sen. Patrick Joyce of Reddick in a rematch with Republican Philip Nagel of Braidwood. Joyce beat Nagel by about 11 percentage points in 2022 in a district that runs from the south suburbs to encompass most of Kankakee County and parts of Grundy County.
Despite that lopsided loss, the fundraising arm of the state Senate Republicans is supporting Nagel, an Air Force veteran, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and in-kind contributions. In total, the campaign brought in more than $700,000 from July 1 through mid-October and was also spending big. At the end of September, it had about $13,000 on hand, records show.
Joyce’s campaign, however, raised close to $2 million from July 1 through mid-October, according to filings with the State Board of Elections.
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