Jeff Keicher: 2026 candidate for Illinois House District 70

Bio

Office sought: House District 70

Party: Republican

City: Sycamore

Age: 52

Previous offices held: President, Sycamore Library Board; State Representative

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?

First, affordability. Illinois families pay some of the highest property taxes in America. Restore the Local Government Distributive Fund toward its historic 10 percent share, end unfunded mandates, and reform TIF abuse. I filed HB 1142 and HB 1222 to do exactly that.

Second, spending discipline. The budget has grown roughly $16 billion under this Governor, with dozens of tax and fee hikes, yet Meals on Wheels still has a wait list and thousands of adults with disabilities wait years for services. Fund the promises we already made before inventing new programs.

Third, reliable, affordable power. Electric bills are climbing as demand outruns supply. I was a lead House sponsor, with Democratic Rep. Lance Yednock, of the original bill to lift Illinois' ban on new nuclear, fought to keep Byron open, and support baseload generation that keeps the lights on and the bills down.

Ben Franklin said a small leak will sink a great ship. Springfield has many leaks. Patch them before asking taxpayers to bail harder.

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?

Poorly. The Bears bought the property in 2023, and three years later Springfield ran out the clock while Indiana passed a stadium authority and named Hammond its site. Indiana did the work. We did not.

I am a Bears fan, and I want the largest private construction project in state history built here. But I would not ask the surrounding homeowners and school districts to subsidize it through a 40-year frozen assessment. When the megaprojects bill (HB 910) came forward, I laid out taxpayer guardrails: a real minimum assessed-value floor tied to the investment; a PTELL fix so districts are not shorted; a hard floor on annual payments; independent governance; an independent fiscal-impact study before any deal is signed; and no suite or skybox perks for elected officials.

What I would have done differently: negotiate in the open, early, with Arlington Heights and the affected schools at the table, instead of a closed-door sprint in the final hours of session. I am a yes on a framework that protects property taxpayers, not a blank check.

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?

Mixed. Roughly 60 percent of the SAFE-T Act was language law enforcement agreed was needed, including body cameras and training standards. The rest created problems.

Electronic monitoring is a clear example: people on home detention are allowed up to 48 hours a week of movement, which has produced bad outcomes. Fix that. Give judges clearer authority to detain repeat and violent offenders, and make sure prosecutors and police have the resources to file and defend detention petitions in a timely way.

Violent crime is concentrated. A small number of repeat offenders drive most of it. The Crime Guns Task Force work with ATF and local partners has shown what happens when you go after that handful of shooters instead of rewriting the entire code.

I have also put victims first. Several of my bills protecting human-trafficking survivors and sexual-assault victims are now law, and I continue to push to remove the statute of limitations for trafficking of minors.

Keep what was negotiated with police. Fix what put monitors on vacation. Focus on the people who keep cycling through the system.

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?

Property taxes are local, but much of the pressure starts in Springfield.

1. Restore the Local Government Distributive Fund. Cities and counties once received 10 percent of state income-tax collections; today it is roughly 6.5 percent. That gap shows up on your tax bill.

2. Reform TIF. I filed HB 1142 to require a voter referendum before a new or expanded TIF, and HB 1222 to cap TIF life at 35 years instead of 47. I have opposed bills extending TIFs dating back to 1990 that starve schools. Americans for Prosperity-Illinois named me a 2025 Prairie State Policy Champion for that work.

3. Let voters decide. I support requiring voter approval for levy increases, sunsets on tax referenda, and expanded Truth in Taxation notices.

4. Mandate relief. If Springfield does not send the money for a mandate and it is not life-safety, local boards should be able to vote it off.

5. Fully fund schools so homeowners are not covering the state's share.

Property taxpayers have had enough of games played at their expense.

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 clear rules, local control, and more power supply.

I have seen this done right. The Meta campus in DeKalb contracted for off-site renewable power, uses modest water compared with other large users, and paid for the infrastructure it needed. That is the standard: developers pay their own way for roads, water, sewer and grid interconnection, report their water use, and do not hide behind a decades-long TIF.

Communities should decide where these facilities go. The state can set a short list of baseline standards on water, energy source, noise and who pays, but I will vote against statewide overrides of local zoning like we have seen with solar, wind and battery siting.

The bigger issue is supply. Rate pressure on our grid is driven by demand outrunning generation across the region. A two-year pause does not build a single megawatt. Illinois leads the nation in nuclear power, and I helped lead the effort to lift the ban on new nuclear. Build more baseload, make developers pay their freight, and we can win the jobs without sticking families with the bill.

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?

Most Illinois families are proud of how they got here, and America should stay a nation that welcomes people who come legally to work, follow the law and build a life. They deserve a real, workable legal path.

There is still a process, though, and too often we have stopped enforcing it. A non-citizen who commits a serious crime should be removed. Illinois law should not prevent local police and sheriffs from communicating with federal authorities after someone has been arrested and charged with a violent or serious offense. Cooperation after a criminal arrest is not hostility to immigrants; it is public safety, and it protects immigrant neighborhoods as much as anyone.

I would amend the TRUST Act to allow that cooperation for people charged with violent felonies, while keeping local police out of routine civil enforcement. Washington must also do its job: secure the border and fix a legal immigration system that leaves good people waiting years. Illinois should not be in the business of shielding those who commit crimes, nor of chasing away those who come here the right way.

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?

Yes. Members and staff have come forward over the years, and every one of those reports deserves to be taken seriously. No one should have to trade their dignity for a job in the Capitol.

I chair the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission, so I cannot comment on any specific complaint. I can speak to process. Since 2018, reforms gave the Legislative Inspector General more independence and gave complainants more protections, and that has helped. But the process still moves too slowly, and too much happens behind closed doors.

Reforms I support: an Inspector General who can open investigations without waiting for permission; firm deadlines for completing investigations; timely public release of founded reports; real consequences for members who stonewall an investigation; and protections against retaliation that follow the complainant, not the powerful. When our Commission voted unanimously this summer to release a founded report, it showed the system can work when we let it.

Culture changes when leaders show that misconduct carries a cost, regardless of party or rank.

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?

No. A former Speaker of the House was sentenced to prison for bribery. That alone tells Illinoisans the current rules are not enough.

I have served on the bipartisan, bicameral Legislative Ethics Commission since 2022 and now chair it.

House Republicans have filed reform bills for years that the majority has not called. They would:

- Ban the use of campaign funds for criminal legal defense

- Suspend pensions of lawmakers charged with a felony related to their office

- End the revolving door of lawmakers leaving office and immediately lobbying

- Give the Legislative Inspector General independence to investigate without political permission

- Require timely public release of founded reports

Transparency in lawmaking matters too. I joined a lawsuit to enforce the Illinois Constitution's three- readings rule after bills were rushed through hours after final language appeared. When the public cannot read a bill before the vote, trust erodes.

Franklin said honesty is the best policy. In Springfield, it should also be the law. No more excuses or delays; it is time to turn the page on the Madigan era.

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

I have spent my life in the 70th District. I am an NIU graduate, a longtime Sycamore small-business owner, and a former Sycamore Library Board President. I know what it means to make payroll and balance a budget.

Since 2019 I have delivered results. My senior driver's license reform, years in the making, is now law and took effect July 1, 2026, ending Illinois' status as the only state forcing road tests based on age alone. I helped lead the bipartisan effort to lift the ban on new nuclear and to keep the Byron plant open. Bills I worked on expanded diagnostic mammogram coverage and protected human-trafficking survivors.

I was selected as the House Republican Conference Chairman, and I chair the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission. I am an Edgar Fellow and have been recognized by AARP Illinois, Nature Conservancy, Illinois Chamber and Americans for Prosperity-Illinois.

There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. That is how I work: results over rhetoric.