Candidates for federal, state and Lake County offices finished filing their petitions Monday in Waukegan or Springfield to run in either the Democratic or Republican March 17 primaries in hopes of becoming their party’s candidate in the Nov. 3 general election.
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, both have multiple primary opponents, and 17 Democrats are competing for the nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston.
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Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega, who is also seeking reelection, said election turnout in non-presidential years averages around 50%. If the elections on Tuesday in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California show a large turnout, it may portend close to 60% in November, he said.
“Any time we have people step up to serve the community, it is good for democracy,” Vega said. “There are a lot of issues and people are taking them seriously.”
All Lake County voters will cast ballots in statewide contests, as well as to choose their representative in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Illinois House of Representatives, along with Lake County clerk, treasurer, sheriff and regional superintendent of schools.
Depending on where they live, some county voters will pick their nominee for the Illinois State Senate and the Lake County Board. Some Waukegan Democrats will pick a nominee for the North Shore Water Reclamation District.
Seeking his seventh term in Washington, Schneider will face John Minarcik of Zion, Thomas Rudd of Lake Forest and Morgan Coghill of Mundelein in the Democratic primary. The winner will compete against the unopposed Republican candidate, Carl Lambrecht of Highland Park.
Quigley is dealing with a five-way primary against Matthew Conroy, Anthony Michael Tamez, Ellan A. Corley and Johnny Antonio Bishop, all of Chicago. The winner will compete against the victor of a three-way GOP primary between Tommy Hanson, Kimball Ladien and Barry Wicker.
With Schakowsky retiring after 14 terms, 15 Democrats are competing for the nomination to succeed her, as are four Republicans seeking the GOP nod. Republican contenders include John Elleson of Arlington Heights, Paul Friedman of Chicago, Rocio Cleveland of Island Lake and Mark Dongbo Su.
Chasing the Democratic nomination are Kat Abughazaleh of Chicago, Bushra Amiwala of Skokie, Phil Andrew of Wilmette, Evanston Mayor and former state Sen. Daniel Biss, Patricia Brown of Evanston, Jeff Cohen of Evanston, state Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, and Justin Ford of Chicago.
Other 9th Democratic District candidates are Bruce Leon of Chicago, Sam Polan of Wilmette, Nick Pyati of Evanston, Mike Simmons of Chicago, Bethany Johnson of Evanston, Howard Rosenblum of Skokie, Natalie Angelo of Park Ridge, Mark Arnold Fredtickson of Chicago and Hoan Huynh of Chicago.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, is unopposed in the 11th Congressional District’s Democratic primary. He will face the GOP primary winner between Michael Pierce of Naperville, Jeff Walter of Elborn, Tedora Brown of Palos Park and Charlie Kim of Aurora.
In the 26th State Senate District, state Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Inverness, is unopposed, as is state Sen. Darby Hills, R-Barrington Hills, in the GOP contest. They will compete for the seat in the November election.
State Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, is unopposed in her primary, as is Kate McGrath of Deerfield on the Republican side. They, too, will compete in November.
State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, of the 30th District, has no primary opponent and no one is seeking the Republican nod.
Both state Sen. Craig Wilcox, R- McHenry, and Karen Battaglia of Antioch, are unopposed in their primaries and will compete in November.
In the 51st House District of the Illinois General Assembly, Republicans Tosi Ufodike of Hawthorn Woods, and Lori Smith of Long Grove, are seeking the GOP nomination to compete against Jenny Levin of Palatine. Levin is unopposed on the Democratic side.
Erin Chan Ding of South Barrington and Maria Peterson of North Barrington are competing for the right to run against state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, to represent the 52nd House District.
State Rep. Tracy Katz Mujhl, D-Northbrook, is unopposed in the Democratic primary for the 57th House District, as is Daniel T. Behr of Northbrook on the Republican side.
State Reps. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, Danile Doidech, D-Buffalo Grove, Rita Mayfield, D-Gurnee, and Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, are all unopposed, with no Republicans running in the respective primaries.
State Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, will compete against Republican Tiona Marie Durant of Beach Park in the fall for the 62nd state House seat. Neither has a primary opponent. The same is true in the 64th House District, where state Rep. Tom Weber, R-Lake Villa and Democrat AJ Johnson have no primary foes.
In countywide contests in Lake County, Vega, and Regional Superintendent of Schools Michael L. Karner, D-Antioch, is unopposed in the primary, with no GOP nominees as well.
In the contest to replace Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim, who is running for state comptroller, Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, D-Lake Bluff, is unopposed in the Democratic primary, as is Republican David Panaherrara of Barrington.
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Democratic Lake County Sheriff John D. Idleburg of Zion has no opponent and will likely run in the fall against Zion resident Roman Buchburger, who is the sole candidate on the Republican side.
Five Lake County Board races have intraparty primaries. In the 3rd District, Democrats Wendy Meister of Riverwoods and Jaclyn Rodriguez of Libertyville are seeking their party’s nominations. Current member Ann Maine of Lincolnshire did not file nomination petitions.
Longtime board member Angelo Kyle of Waukegan did not file for reelection in the 14th District. Competing to replace him are Vance Wyatt and Carmecia Hawthorn, both of North Chicago.
Sixth District member John Wasick, D-Grayslake, is facing a challenge from Kristel Larson of Hainesville, as is Esiah Campos, D-Round Lake Beach, in the 16th District from Juan Betpo Ruiz, also of Round Lake Beach. No Republican filed to run in either district.
In the 17th District, board member Michael Danforth, R-Fox River Grove, will compete against Joe Salvi of Barrington for the GOP nomination. No one filed on the Democratic side.
County Board members Gina Roberts, D-Beach Park, of the 4th District, Carissa Casbon, D-Lake Villa, of the 7th District and Paul Frank, D-Highland Park, in the 11th District are unopposed in their primaries. No Republican filed petitions.
People who chose to run as independents in the November election do not have a primary and still have time to file nominating petitions.
Information for the congressional and state legislative contests came from the Illinois State Board of Elections website, and the county contest information came from the Lake County Clerk’s Office website.