Keith Brin, Lake County Republican Party chair
Suburban Republican Party leaders are slating candidates for state legislative races that didn’t draw primary contenders despite a new law designed to prevent such aspirants from being considered by voters.
The action is being encouraged by the Illinois State Board of Elections, which has said it will accept petitions from such candidates by a previously set June 3 deadline. The board then will consider any challenges to those petitions filed by June 10 — again, as scheduled.
The elections board — comprised of four Democrats and four Republicans — will hold hearings to consider any objections, as usual. Those likely would be held July 9, board spokesman Matt Dietrich said.
“Assuming there are objections filed, I would expect whichever side is on the losing end to then seek judicial review in court,” Dietrich said.
The legislation, fast-tracked last week by both the state House and state Senate and quickly signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, bars political parties from appointing a candidate to a legislative general election race if no candidate from that party ran for the seat in the primary election. The move protects candidates who won primary races, who often are incumbents.
The law is effective for the Nov. 5 general election. It only affects races for seats in the General Assembly and doesn’t prohibit post-primary slating for partisan federal, county or township races.
This year, most of the General Assembly candidates who don’t have opponents in November are Democrats. State Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat who sponsored the legislation in his chamber, said slating candidates after a primary election is a “corrosive practice” that allows parties to pick their best candidate after the other side of the contest has been settled by voters.
State Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat
“People who want to run for office should face the voters before they’re the nominee of a major political party,” Harmon said.
Conversely, state Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove called the legislation a “dictator-style tactic” that prevents voters from having a choice about their political leaders.
Republican state Senate leader John Curran
Nine of November’s state Senate races and 54 state House races are, at the moment, uncontested.
Eight of the Senate candidates currently not facing opponents are Democrats, including incumbent Mary Edly-Allen of Libertyville in the 31st District. Republican leaders have selected Benton Township Trustee Ashley Jensen to run against Edly-Allen, and Jensen is circulating petitions for the necessary signatures, Lake County GOP Chair Keith Brin said.
Brin criticized Democratic legislators for changing the law in the middle of an election.
“We are going to fight this, but we shouldn’t have to,” Brin said Thursday. “The Democrats are using the levers of power to cancel people, shut down meaningful debate and opposing views, and destroy democracy.”
Of the House candidates without opponents in November, 36 are Democrats and 18 are Republicans.
No Republican ran in the primary for the 57th House District seat held by Tracy Katz Muhl of Northbrook, so the GOP tapped fellow Northbrook resident Daniel Behr to run for the post. Behr filed his candidate petitions minutes after Pritzker signed the bill, however, so the validity of his candidacy isn’t clear.
In Facebook posts this week, Behr criticized Katz Muhl and other Democrats for voting for legislation that could prevent him from appearing on the ballot.
“For all the Democrats’ claims that they want more transparency and free and fair elections, they passed a law intended to deceive the voters of Illinois and to prevent contested elections for the state legislature on November,” Behr wrote.
The state elections board is scheduled to finalize the statewide ballot Aug. 23.
· Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.