No longer a Democratic stronghold? GOP picks up 2 state House races in southwest IL
Republicans predicted they could woo traditionally Democratic-leaning voters in southwest Illinois, and they proved themselves correct Tuesday night in two legislative races.
Concerns about possible tax increases and the corruption allegations surrounding Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan led metro-east voters to flip, the presumptive winners say.
The tentative wins represent a shift in metro-east politics, where formerly left-of-center voters believe the GOP better represents them on those two issues, which were key in southern Illinois’ 2020 election.
The biggest margin came in the 116th state House of Representatives district, where Republican David Friess defeated incumbent Democrat Nathan Reitz by 30 points, according to unofficial results. The district includes some of southwestern Illinois’ more conservative voters in Monroe, Perry and Randolph counties.
Further north in the 111th District, which includes Jersey and Madison counties, Republican Amy Elik was leading incumbent Democrat Monica Bristow by nine points, unofficial results showed Wednesday afternoon. The Associated Press had not yet declared Elik the winner.
A Republican hasn’t held the 111th District in 50 years, said Madison County Republican Party chairman Jeremy Plank. Bristow, who won by just one percentage point in 2018, outspent Elik by nearly $900,000 in 2020, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data.
“That’s really a historical win for us,” Plank said.
Corruption tied to Madigan weighed heavy on races statewide, Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Wednesday night on Chicago Tonight, a television news program on PBS affiliate WTTW.
“Candidates who had little or no connection with him whatsoever were being tarred as Madigan allies who are behind corruption and so forth and so on,” Durbin said. “It was really disconcerting to see the price that we paid on that. I hope he takes that to heart and understands that his presence as chairman of our party has not helped.”
The metro-east legislative races are indicative of a changing party that is leaving some more conservative Democrats such as Reitz in the lurch, said retired University of Illinois political science professor Kent Redfield.
“As the voters grow more Republican, the democratic candidates grow more conservative,” he said. “ ... At the end of the day, they will vote for a real Republican.”
Madigan’s mark
Democratic-leaning voters and Republicans united behind Friess and Elik because the metro-east wants to see Madigan fall from his position as an Illinois political powerhouse, presumptive winners said.
The Chicago Democrat was embroiled in a bribery scandal earlier this year involving the state’s largest electric utility, ComEd. It resulted in bipartisan calls for his resignation. Madigan has denied any wrongdoing, but metro-east voters aren’t convinced, Friess said.
“I can’t tell you how many times I talked to people and they’ve said, ‘Madigan’s got to go,’” Friess said.
Friess, who lost in 2018 to former 116th state Rep. Jerry Costello II, says he heard from former left-leaning voters who cast straight Republican tickets this year. Even in the Democratic stronghold of St. Clair County, the percentage of voters favoring the Republican nominee increased by 12 points from two years ago, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data.
“For me to get the numbers that I did, people who voted for Jerry last time voted for me this time. There’s no doubt about it,” Friess said.
The 51-year-old attorney’s efforts to connect Reitz to corruption in Springfield may have swayed voters too. Reitz, a 43-year-old former power plant supervisor, was appointed to his position after Costello resigned to take a state agency job. Reitz’s appointment played a pivotal role in getting the graduated income tax amendment on November’s ballot.
Supporters of the amendment conceded Wednesday, but voters couldn’t forgive Reitz, though the representative said he took no stance on the issue.
The GOP’s willingness to identify corruption makes the party appealing to centrist voters, said Elik, a 47-year-old accountant from Fosterburg. Voters who favored the Republican candidate increased by more than nine points in the 111th compared to 2018, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data.
”We are calling things out as we see them. We are being very vocal about the problems that exist and about better ways we can put forward,” Elik said.
Illinois tax troubles
Voters also had taxes on their minds.
Illinois faces a budget deficit because of revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said there are a few ways to fill that hole: borrow $5 billion from the federal government, raise the income tax by a percentage point or cut spending statewide by 15%.
Voters rejected Pritzker’s signature campaign promise to replace the state’s flat-rate income tax with a graduated system, denying the governor his hope of finding some budget relief.
That will lead to a fight in the General Assembly about how to close the gap, Elik said.
“Nobody wants to solve the problems of Illinois by raising taxes.”
Elik believes the Illinois could save more than $500 million by eliminating corruption. She cites a cost analysis of public corruption convictions by the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative thinktank.
As for the remaining billions, Elik says lawmakers will have to make it up by eliminating waste and fraud combined with cuts in spending while “prioritizing services needed to protect the most vulnerable.”
Friess also says ethics reform will help reduce costs, but spending cuts must also be made.
“I’ve been laid off before, so my income changed. What did I do to still pay the bill? I cut my spending,” Friess said. “Can we save some money? Cut this program? ... They never once look at trying to balance the budget by cutting spending. We really need to do that.”
But Pritzker warned of the harmful effects of “draconian” cuts, such as those Illinois saw under former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner during a two-year budget crisis.
“His approach devastated higher education, child care, human services and hollowed out state agencies like those that manage public health and unemployment benefits,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said making 15% cuts across the board, the minimum necessary to account for the deficit, would ruin public services. He called that option “the Republican approach.”
“That’s 15% fewer state troopers. That’s 15% fewer students going to college, 15% fewer working parents receiving child care assistance and 15% less money for your local public schools.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
