Senger jumps into 11th District GOP race for Congress
State Rep. Darlene Senger today formally announced her campaign for Congress.
The Naperville Republican faces possible challenges in the March 18 primary election from private investigator Ian Bayne of Aurora, Grundy County Board member Chris Balkema from Channahon or both.
Senger is running in the 11th District, a seat now held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville.
“I’ve never shied away from big challenges,” Senger said in an announcement on her website. “Whether it was serving as a PTA mom, a Naperville City Council member or a state representative, I didn’t run away from challenges — I ran towards them.”
Foster won the seat last year by defeating longtime incumbent Republican Judy Biggert of Hinsdale by about 16 percentage points.
Senger is part of the group of 10 state lawmakers meeting behind closed doors to come up with an Illinois pension fix.
It’s clear Foster and even Senger’s primary election opponents plan to use her experience in Springfield against her even as she hopes to show voters some expertise on complicated issues.
“It should be no surprise that Darlene Senger, who is part of the problem in Springfield, has spent months cozying up to national Republicans who have given us nothing but gridlock and dysfunction in Congress,” Brandon Lorenz, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.
The 11th District includes Aurora and Naperville in the west and moves east to Burr Ridge and south to Joliet.