Endorsement: Penman in Illinois Senate District 33
Whoever voters of Illinois’ 33rd Senate District choose as their next senator will have taken an atypical path to the General Assembly.
Democrat Michele Clark of Algonquin and Republican Danielle Penman of St. Charles are running for the seat held since 2018 by Sen. Don DeWitte, a Republican lauded for his pragmatism and ability to work across both sides of the aisle.
Unlike DeWitte — who arrived in Springfield with decades of experience in public service, including eight years as St. Charles’ mayor — both Clark and Penman are making their first bids for elected office.
Clark, 53, owned and operated an early childhood learning center before later serving as the chief operating officer of the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee and now director of development for the Community Unit District 300 Food Pantry.
As befitting her background, she says she would be a strong advocate for small businesses and push for the state to contribute more funding to public education, including by seeking out new sources of revenue.
Penman 49, is a labor and delivery nurse. Despite having no experience in office, she offers clear, actionable proposals for reducing property taxes, lowering energy costs and making health care more affordable.
If elected, Penman would become the first registered nurse to ever serve in the General Assembly, giving the legislative body some much-needed firsthand insight on health care issues.
While we’re impressed with Clark’s credentials, we endorse Penman as the best choice to carry on the 33rd District’s centrist tradition, and as someone who would push back against the General Assembly’s all-too-frequent reliance on tax hikes ahead of belt-tightening.
House District 65: Ugaste
Much has been said and written about the decline of the Republican Party in Illinois, and particularly in the suburbs that once served as the state GOP’s bulwark.
When the party was a force in suburban politics, it was populated by lawmakers like Rep. Dan Ugaste.
Ugaste, an attorney from Geneva seeking his fifth term in the Illinois House, is a serious, thoughtful legislator who’s earned a reputation as someone who can work across party lines without abandoning his fiscally conservative principles. And those principles are in short supply in Springfield, where Ugaste’s colleagues have too often turned to new and more taxes to address the state’s financial needs.
Contrary to that, Ugaste has proposed creative solutions, such as a bill that would create a state program awarding grants to school districts that provide homeowners with property tax relief. Another would end local governments’ practice of rolling over bonds rather than seeking voter approval to issue new ones.
Challenging Ugaste this year is Democrat Ricky Rivard of St. Charles. The 45-year-old adjunct professor at Elmhurst University and real estate agent is focused on progressive issues, including expanding health care coverage, creating more attainable housing and eliminating restrictive zoning that often prevents it, and protecting reproductive freedom.
He also accuses Ugaste of “working for the radical right,” something that does not align with our experiences with him.
Rather, Ugaste has shown us to be the kind of reasonable conservative voice needed to provide some balance in an overwhelmingly Democratic state government. He earns our endorsement.
House District 66: Ness
Voters in Illinois House District 66 will decide a rematch between Democratic state Rep. Suzanne Ness and Republican challenger Laurie Parman, a race captured by Ness with about 53.3% of the vote in 2024.
We endorsed Ness in that contest, and see no reason to change our recommendation two years later.
Ness, 57 and a former McHenry County Board member from Carpentersville, has distinguished herself as an advocate for the state’s disabled residents and those living in nursing homes, and she’s taken a key role in a working group formed to address unacceptable instances of sexual harassment in state government. We won’t agree with her on everything, but she’s proven to be an active and effective lawmaker.
Parman, 71, spent three decades as a grade school educator and certainly could bring some valuable insight from the classroom to the Capitol. However, we’re less enamored by her willingness to welcome federal immigration authorities to polling places and her touting of an endorsement from an organization that opposes school vaccine mandates and wants to ban fluoride in drinking water.
We endorse Ness.