For the first time in more than 20 years, Republican candidates for state legislative races outnumber Democrats, according to the Illinois Policy Institute which on Monday released an analysis of this year's contests.
It shows that a total of 152 Republicans are running for the General Assembly - 107 in the House and 45 in the Senate. Comparatively, Democrats have 135 candidates - 91 in the House and 44 in the Senate.
“For years, Illinois’ legislative maps and candidacy systems have been broken, leaving voters feeling hopeless and exhausted that their vote didn’t count,” said Matt Paprocki, president of the Illinois Policy Institute. “This year disrupted that trend. Millions will now benefit from seeing a choice. Two or more candidates should be the standard for all political races.”
Among the 82 of 118 House District contests this year is the 114th District in St. Clair County, currently held by incumbent Democrat LaToya Greenwood of East St. Louis.
The district, gerrymandered like so many across the state, forms a sort of U-shape running from East St. Louis south to Millstadt, west to Freeburg and north to include parts of O'Fallon and Lebanon to the northeast.
Greenwood, a former East St. Louis councilwoman and human resources director for the East St. Louis School District 189, won election for the first time in 2016 against Republican candidate Bob Romanik by a margin of 58-42. She defeated Republican Jason Madlock in 2018 by the same margin and defeated Dave Barnes in 2020, 57-43.
In the June 28 primary, which turned out more Republicans than Democrats in the 114th District, Millstadt chiropractor Kevin Schmidt won the GOP nomination in a contest against county board member Kevin Dawson of Mascoutah.
Schmidt defeated Dawson by 1,412 votes. Their combined vote total versus Greenwood was 6,284 to 5,806. Greenwood's total was the fewest number of votes she has received in the four primaries she's been on the ballot. In the 2018 non-presidential year primary, Greenwood received 8,819 votes.
Schmidt had run for the 116th House in the 2020 GOP primary but was edged out by 727 votes by David Friess, who went on to defeat Democrat incumbent Nathan Reitz by a margin of 65-35 in the general election.
In a press release issued Aug. 1, Schmidt took aim at Greenwood for her support of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, and the recent spike in electric rates in the peak of summer.
The Clean Energy Jobs Act (SB2408) is a "green" bill which calls for all private coal and gas plants to cease operations by 2045. Among other things, it also requires a 45 percent reduction in emission by 2035.
“The end result of this terrible legislation is skyrocketing electric bills throughout the Metro East,” Schmidt said. “This is the Illinois version of the Green New Deal. What makes matters worse is this is only the beginning. We think electric prices are bad now. Just wait until the full effect of this bad law kicks in. We are headed for hard times thanks to this legislation.”
His release says that according to the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) last April, “the price rose from $5/MegaWatt (MW)-day to $236.66/MW-day in several Midwestern states, including Illinois (part of MISO’s Zone 4). The increase was ‘driven by an uptick in projected electricity use and a dip in power supply.’”
Schmidt said the CUB is "hardly a right-wing organization."
"Even they admit that available power supply is impacting the cost of electricity. The radical policies at the federal level and in states like Illinois are disincentivizing investment in traditional power plants forcing these plants to close prematurely and there simply is not enough alternative power available to meet the demand. There is no question that the radical environmental policies my opponent supports are big factors in the high cost of energy.”
Schmidt noted many of the people he has talked to have seen their electric bills more than double.
“People are hurting,” Schmidt said. “LaToya Greenwood is part of the problem, and she won’t be a part of the solution. I am the only candidate in this race willing to take a stand to change what is happening. Repealing Senate Bill 2408 will be the first bill I file in January.”
Greenwood has not yet responded to a request for comment.