Senatorial, congressional hopefuls begin filing for June primary
Monday was the first day for Illinois candidates in this year's midterm election to file nominating petitions - and it's already clear some of the contests that'll be on June's primary ballots will be crowded affairs.
Five Republicans made their candidacies for the 6th Congressional District seat official by submitting paperwork to the Illinois State Board of Elections in Springfield - as did Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and Democratic challenger Marie Newman, who now represents the 3rd District in Congress.
Over in the 14th, four Republicans filed to take on Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville. Underwood turned in her paperwork, too.
More GOP hopefuls are expected in both districts. Candidates have until March 14 to file.
Redrawn for this election, the 6th District includes parts of Cook and DuPage counties. Casten is seeking a third term.
Newman, of La Grange, chose to run in the 6th after her home was redrawn into the largely Hispanic 4th District now represented by Chicago Democrat Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. Congressional representatives don't have to live in the districts they serve.
The Republicans who filed Monday to run in the 6th were Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, Niki Conforti of Glen Ellyn, Scott Kaspar of Orland Park, and Catherine A. O'Shea of Oak Lawn.
Not filing was Republican Rob Cruz of Oak Lawn, who gained some notoriety in January after being removed from a local school board for suing the district and state officials over the mask mandate.
Cruz said he intends to file March 14.
"We're not concerned about ballot position," he said.
In the 14th District - encompassing parts of Kane, Will, DeKalb, Kendall, LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam counties - Underwood is expected to run unopposed in the Democratic primary. There'll be plenty of action the other side of the political aisle, though.
Republicans Mike Koolidge of Rochelle, Kendall County Board Chair Scott Gryder of Oswego, Oswego Public Library Board member James Marter of Oswego and Jaime Milton of Fox River Grove all submitted candidate petitions Monday.
Absent from that throng was Jack Lombardi of Manhattan, who's been campaigning for the seat for months. Lombardi said he will file his paperwork before the deadline.
"We have collected many signatures," he said, declining to comment further.
There was a surprising shortage of first-day filings in the 11th District, now served by Democrat U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville. Foster filed, as did Republican Jerry Evans of Warrenville and Andrea Heeg of the Geneva area.
But other Republicans who have been actively campaigning for the seat or who've voiced interest in it didn't, including: Catalina Lauf of Woodstock, Cassandra Tanner Miller of Elgin, Mark Carroll of North Aurora, and Juan "Johnny" Ramos of Naperville.
Tanner Miller said she's aiming to secure the last ballot slot in her race.
Carroll, who joined the race late last month, said he is still meeting voters in the district but will submit the paperwork by the deadline.
Neither Lauf nor Ramos could be reached.
Elsewhere:
• Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago filed for reelection in the 5th District, which includes a large swath of the suburbs. Republican Tommy Hanson of Chicago filed in the 5th, too.
• Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg filed for reelection in the 8th District. Also filing in the 8th were: Democratic challenger Junaid Ahmed of South Barrington; and Republicans Peter Kopsaftis of South Barrington, Chad Koppie of Gilberts and Phillip Owen Wood of Carol Stream.
• Democratic U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston filed for reelection in the 9th District. Republican John Elleson of Arlington Heights also filed in the 9th, setting up a possible rematch of the 2018 general election contest won by Schakowsky.
• Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider of Deerfield filed for reelection in the 10th District. Republican Joe Severino of Lake Forest filed, too.
• Republican Justin Burau of Winfield, Democratic state Rep. Delia Ramirez of Chicago, and Democratic Chicago Alderman Gilbert "Gil" Villegas filed petitions for the open 3rd seat, which will serve some of Chicago and parts of the Northwest and West suburbs.
In the state's U.S. Senate race, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates filed to run. So did Republicans Peggy Hubbard of Belleville and Casey Chlebek of Lake Forest.
A lottery will be held at 2 p.m. March 23 to determine ballot position for all candidates who were in line when the election office's doors opened at 8 a.m. and thus are considered to have filed simultaneously.
The candidate list is viewable at elections.il.gov.
The primary is June 28. The general election is Nov. 8.