Endorsement: Holan for House District 46
Despite being pretty liberal for DuPage County, Democrat Deb Conroy won the House seat in 2012 and again in 2014.
Her first two years showed some decent cross-aisle movement, like her bipartisan efforts to consolidate local governments in DuPage County. That said, her most recent two years have not been as promising, and we're particularly disappointed she did not stand with Elaine Nekritz, Jack Franks, Carol Sente and a handful of other Democrats in a futile, but noteworthy effort to oppose the $7 billion unbalanced budget.
Conroy isn't the only suburban Democrat who didn't stand up and say, "this is nuts" but the point is we need more of them, not fewer.
Republican candidate Heidi Holan, who lost a close race to Conroy in 2014, says the right things about not adding to the taxpayer burden in Illinois. She also is a staunch supporter of Gov. Rauner's Turnaround agenda. We support some of that agenda.
What Springfield needs are Democrats - and yes, Republicans - who are willing to act independently and take the risk to cross the aisle and make sound legislation happen. We endorsed Conroy two years ago on the strength of her bipartisan efforts and while we think she is a smart, thoughtful lawmaker, we also think Holan's views are more in line with DuPage County residents, who voted for Rauner two years ago by a 61-37 margin.
Let's see what she can do. Holan is endorsed.