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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Stuart beats Keeven to retain 112th District IL House seat; Elik cruises; Schmidt poised to win

Elections
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Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) | ilga.gov/

In a night largely demonstrating the strength of the Republican Party in Madison County, incumbent Democratic State Rep. Katie Stuart claimed victory and another term in Springfield.

in the race for the seat from Illinois' 112th State House District, Stuart easily bested Republican challenger Jay Keeven.

According to unofficial tallies posted by both Madison and St. Clair counties on Election Night, Stuart claimed more than 54% of the vote in the 112th District, amassing 27,304 votes to 23,802 for Keeven.


Jay Keeven, candidate for IL House District 112 | Facebook

Stuart did not reply Tuesday morning to a request for comment on the results from the Madison County Record. Nor did she post any comment or message to her campaign's Facebook page or website.

In a statement to The Record, Keeven thanked his supporters and expressed disappointment in the results. 

"This was not the result we wanted, but I am grateful for everyone who worked alongside us to provide an option on the ballot for Metro East voters," Keeven said. 

"The majority of voters in the 112th House district did not desire change, but I thank those who did for their support and for their work."

Stuart's victory came on a night when Republicans otherwise appeared to cement their newfound political dominance in Madison County and their growing strength in the region.

Republican State House incumbents Christopher "C.D." Davidsmeyer and Charlie Meier ran unopposed in the 100th and 109th State House Districts, respectively. 

Republican State Sen. Jason Plummer also ran unopposed in State Senate District 55.

Longtime Democratic State Rep. Jay Hoffman ran unopposed in State House District 113.

In State House District 111, Republican incumbent State Rep. Amy Elik crushed Democratic challenger Nick Raftopoulos. Elik amassed more than 61% of the vote.

In nearby State House District 114, Republican incumbent State Rep. Kevin Schmidt also appeared poised to claim victory against Democrat LaToya Greenwood. According to unofficial tallies Tuesday morning, Schmidt held 52% of the vote in that race.

Few state legislative contests, however, drew more attention than Stuart's matchup with Keeven in District 112.

To even reach Election Day, Keeven's candidacy had to survive a strong effort by Democrats from across the state, including Gov. JB Pritzker, to block him from placing his name on the ballot.

Keevn, the former Edwardsville Police Chief and current Troy city administrator, had filed his nominating petitions to place his name on the ballot to challenge Stuart in the 112th District on May 2.

However, the next day, Pritzker signed into law new legislation, pushed quickly through the Illinois General Assembly by Democratic leaders, to potentially thwart Republicans from placing Keeven and other GOP state legislative candidates on the ballot this fall.

Initially known as Senate Bill 2412, the law rewrote state election rules to block political parties from slating candidates to run for office after the spring primary election, unless they had first run in their party's primary.

Under the previous rules, parties who had no official nominees for a seat in the General Assembly had 75 days after the primary to "slate" candidates to run as the official party nominee in such races, provided they received a required number of valid signatures from voters on post-primary nominating petitions. This year, that deadline was to be June 3.

However, six weeks after the March 19 primary and about four weeks before the June 3 deadline, Democrats rammed through SB2412 in less than 48 hours, winning a quick signature from Pritzker.

Republicans cried foul, saying the law as an unconstitutional dirty trick meant only to prevent Republicans from challenging potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents, like Stuart, at the ballot box.

Other Republicans from elsewhere in the state challenged the law in court, and won an order from a Springfield judge declaring Democrats' attempts to apply the law to the 2024 election an unconstitutional attempt to rewrite election rules in the middle of an election cycle, trampling the rights of voters and candidates.

Democrats appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. However, after two Democratic justices on the state high court recused themselves from the case for unspecified reasons, the remaining justices said they were deadlocked in the case and could not overturn the lower court's ruling.

Keeven was not a party to that lawsuit. 

However, he also beat back an objection to his candidacy, when a state election hearing officer declared the law, even if it were constitutional, could not be applied retroactively to Keeven.

The Illinois State Board of Elections sided with Keeven and adopted the hearing officer's recommendation, denying the objection and allowing Keeven to be on the ballot to challenge Stuart.

The Democratic objectors were represented in that matter by prominent Democratic elections law attorney Michael J. Kasper, who in the past has represented former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and his allies, and most recently has represented current Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch in elections-related court cases, including in defense of the stricken "anti-slating" law.

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