Elizabeth Bauer: 2026 candidate for Illinois House District 53

Bio

Office sought: Illinois State House District 53

Party: Republican

City: Arlington Heights

Age: 57

Previous offices held: None

Q&A

What do you consider the three most pressing issues facing the state in the next four years, and how should they be addressed?

1) The ongoing fiscal crisis, in which every year taxes are increased and new taxes are added just to close persistent budget holes, yet still with projected budget deficits growing to $5 billion in 2029+.

2) The economic malaise in Illinois. Statewide, we’re at the 8th highest unemployment rate, even worse for young adults. Attempts to boost the economy with tax credits for favored industries create a climate in which other businesses struggle and leave the state, and residents follow suit as well.

3) The need for true reform in governance. Top Democratic leadership collects massive sums of money from unions and other wealthy donors, and has essentially unchecked power to decide what bills get voted on. Bills continue to be passed in the wee hours of the morning, without the public having any knowledge of them until the morning’s news report (for example, the toll hike nearly a year ago). Worst of all, the total control by the House Speaker and the Senate President on what legislation even gets assigned to a committee prevents bills with majority bipartisan support (but which they don’t personally support or may need Republican votes) from being considered.

How would you assess the General Assembly's handling, to date, of the various proposals surrounding a Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights? What proposals would you have been willing to support and in what ways, if any, might you have approached it differently?

The handling by the General Assembly has been flawed every step of the way. The State House version tried to get around the objections of Chicago legislators by offering extensive giveaways to interest groups. Worse, it didn’t protect taxpayers, with promises for the Senate to fix its flaws. The Senate version’s middle of the night vote was even worse. That said, I have been clear on my position on the Bears: They own the former Arlington Park property. Within reason, they should be able to develop it as they wish.

Infrastructure spending should match what the state provides for other developments which generate infrastructure needs, for instance necessary road widening, and should be predictable. No special subsidies or special tax treatment. These do not pay for themselves, despite claims to the contrary.

At the same time, the Bears’ repeated claim is that without a special deal, their tax rates would be inequitable due to the way property tax is calculated on a project like theirs compared to typical commercial properties. Remedying this to create fairer taxes across the board is a valid request.

Now roughly three years into the elimination of cash bail in Illinois as part of the SAFE-T Act, how would you assess the success or failure of the criminal justice reform measure? What changes, if any, would you support?

Illinois sorely needs SAFE-T Act reform. Fundamentally, there are too many instances in which judges are obliged to release a suspect regardless of whether he is a danger to the community. And there are too many instances in which judges simply have too much discretion, and release individuals with extensive criminal records who should never be walking the streets again but are given pre-trial release because an overly lenient judge imagines that the suspect wants to turn his life around. Chicago police officer John Bartholomew was killed by a career criminal, and a woman was set on fire on the Blue Line, both for this reason.

Gov. Pritzker blamed the judges without acknowledging that the law gives those judges too much discretion, and House and Senate Democratic leadership rejected 5 different reasonable bills proposed by Republicans that would have implemented even modest reforms, treating these victims as somehow simply necessary sacrifices for a greater goal of reduced incarceration.

Illinois homeowners face one of the highest relative property tax burdens in the country. What specific proposals could you offer to ease the burden on state residents?

Our property taxes have been increasing relentlessly despite the PTELL tax cap, for several reasons. First of all, the TIF law creates a “double dipping” situation that Springfield must curb. Each time a TIF district is created, the other taxpayers shoulder the burden of maintaining the tax levy increasing at the same rate while the TIF property’s assessments are frozen. Then, when the TIF ends, the taxing bodies get the benefit as added revenue rather than the benefit being passed on as tax relief.

Second, too many local governments are exempt.

Third, governments, in particular school districts such as D214, fail to use tax revenue for basics such as roofs and heating, then demand that voters pass additional bond referendums, on top of the inflationary increases. Springfield can demand these be budgeted for as a condition of receipt of state money.

On top of this, economic stagnation affects our property taxes. Right now, businesses’ property tax payments cover about a third of the overall property tax burden. It goes without saying that the more prosperous businesses are, the more of the property tax burden they can bear without failing or being chased out of Illinois.

Gov. JB Pritzker recently paused a state initiative granting incentives to data center developers, and residents statewide have concerns about how such developments are affecting their access to water, utility rates, and the environment. How should the state approach data centers going forward?

With respect to incentives for data centers, I am as opposed as I think pretty much everyone is at this time, alongside my general opposition to picking and choosing favored businesses in a way that drives up the tax burden for everyone else.

More generally, data centers should be considered on a case-by-case basis, with respect to water usage and noise mitigation, without drumming up exaggerated fears.

The worries about energy cost make it clear that the state’s energy policy has failed. In a normal state of affairs, increased customers for a product (energy) ought to mean that businesses would be eager for another opportunity to make a profit. Worries about energy capacity simply shouldn’t exist and the nuclear power plant moratorium should have never continued as long as it did.

Illinois’ “sanctuary” policies concerning immigration have made it a target for the Trump administration and critics who say they encourage criminal behavior. How do you feel about those policies, and how, if at all, would you change them?

Illinois’ sanctuary policies were originally well-intentioned, or at least were justified with the good intention that members of immigrant communities would not report crimes if they thought the perpetrator would be deported. But this has gone too far. Out of sympathy with immigrant communities, the state has constructed a system in which even those illegal immigrants with the most heinous criminal records are released back into the community. I believe most Illinoisans agree with me that this is wrong. What’s more, Gov. Pritzker has repeatedly insisted that he wants violent criminals deported but also that he will only hold felons after serving their sentence when ICE has a judicial warrant–hiding the fact that under ordinary circumstances, illegal immigrants, even violent felons, haven’t committed federal crimes and ICE can’t obtain a federal judicial warrant as a result.

There are compromise reforms (as in California) from a middle ground perspective: not calling ICE on suspects but only on felons about to finish their sentence, either for a hold or to ensure ICE is able to pick them up immediately at a scheduled release date.

Many women in the legislature complain about a culture of sexual harassment in Springfield. Do you see evidence of this and, if so, what should be done about it?

Not being an incumbent, I cannot speak to any personal experience. However, the repeated claims that women’s concerns regarding Rep. Harry Benton were not being addressed makes it clear that reform is needed, not just with a set of policies and procedures but the whole system of unchecked power by House Speaker Welch and the labor unions. Note that I mention the unions in this context because Speaker Welch explicitly attributed his inaction (when Rep. Benton’s behavior was reported) and that he in fact continued to contribute to Rep. Benton’s campaign to Rep. Benton’s influence with the unions.

Are you satisfied with the state's existing ethics policies for senators and representatives? If so, what about the policies should reassure Illinoisans that elected leaders abide by high standards? If not, what changes need to be made?

On paper, the state has high ethical standards for its legislators. For example, a legislator cannot accept a bribe. However, if he or she can accept large sums of money from unions, special interests, or other deep pocket donors before voting on, or as a reward for voting on legislation promoted by those groups, as is often the case, it is little better than a cash money bribe.

This campaign-cash issue might seem unsolvable, but fixing the “rules” of the House and Senate can actually make a difference, if rank and file legislators are brave enough to do so, by reducing the power of the top legislative leaders and increasing the voice of ordinary citizens. For example, they can vote, at the beginning of the new session, to truly bind themselves to a requirement that bills cannot be voted on between 7 pm and 7 am, and that the final text of the bill must be released 24 hours before the final vote, so that Illinoisians have at least the barest of chances to protest bills they oppose. And they can vote for a “discharge petition” process to maximize the degree to which the bipartisan middle can form coalitions.

What personal qualifications do you bring that would make you an effective legislator?

I am an actuary. This means by training and by nature I look at the bigger picture, the second-order consequences, the long-term ramifications of decisions. I firmly believe it’s not enough to have a caring heart if you don’t care about ensuring the math is right as well. Here in Illinois, we seem to keep failing to learn these lessons over and over again. For example, pension costs escalated year after year because legislators considered “having a plan to fund pensions in the future” as a good enough justification for increasing benefits. When the Tier 2 pension reform was created in 2010, it was negotiated behind closed doors without any actuarial projections, and now the state has been boosting benefits at a record clip, supposedly to remedy Tier 2 failings but actually well in excess of the statutory needs. I am also a mother who is at that turning point where I’m shepherding my children into adulthood. I am watching the economic stagnation that means their friends (along with one of my own sons) are leaving the state after fruitless job searches. I don’t just care about the next generation in an abstract way; I experience it each and every day.