Ramey to run for Senate

State Rep. Randy Ramey said Monday that he’ll make a bid for the Illinois Senate in 2012 instead of an effort for re-election to the House.

Ramey, chair of the DuPage County Republican Party, sets up a primary battle in March with state Sen. Carole Pankau of Itasca, who lives in the same Senate district.

In making his announcement, Ramey touted his effort to bring an Arizona-style illegal immigration law to Illinois, where Democrats haven’t allowed debate on the plan.

“There are many thousands of law-abiding legal immigrants in Illinois. I support legal immigration,” Ramey said in a statement. “But, those who enter illegally and then commit crimes need to be returned to their home countries.”

Ramey was charged last month with DUI and has a court date scheduled for next week. He apologized afterward.

Ramey first entered the Illinois House in 2005, the same year Pankau entered the Senate following a 12-year House stint of her own.

Pankau ran for Illinois comptroller in 2006, and most recently ran unsuccessfully for DuPage County Board chair.

Pankau announced her Senate re-election plans in June, saying at the time that because the newly drawn district she lives in looks a lot like the one she represents now, she has “a distinct edge over any primary challengers.”

The newly drawn 23rd Senate district they’ll both be vying for includes all or parts of Addison, Bartlett, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Glendale Heights, Itasca, Roselle, West Chicago and other towns.