Candidates file for 2010 elections
Monday was the last day for candidates from established parties to get their names on the ballot for next year's congressional, state and county elections, and as expected, the field included a couple of local former legislators vying to win back their seats.
One of those is former 22nd District state Sen. Steven Rauschenberger of Elgin, who did not to run for re-election in 2006 in order to run for governor after 15 years as a state senator. He later lost in the Republican Party primary as the lieutenant governor running mate to Ron Gidwitz.
Also on the ballot is the man who replaced him, current state Sen. Michael Noland, D-Elgin, up for re-election for the first time since winning the seat.
In the area's other statehouse race, incumbent 43rd District state Rep. Keith Farnham, D-Elgin, and the woman he defeated two years ago, then-incumbent Republican Ruth Munson of Elgin, have filed.
In the 25th District for State Senate, incumbent Chris Lauzen of Aurora is set to face a primary challenge from Sugar Grove Village President P. Sean Michels, a fellow Republican. The race's other candidate, Leslie Juby of Geneva, was the lone Democrat to file.
In the 55th Representative District, incumbent Randy Ramey, R-Carol Stream, and Democrat Gregory Brownfield of Bartlett filed, while in 49th House District, incumbent Timothy Schmitz, R-Batavia, and Democrat Jennifer Barconi of South Elgin remained the only candidates.
The ballot was considerably smaller for at least three incumbents, as 28th District state Sen. John Millner, R-Carol Stream, 44th District state Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, and 15th District Cook County Board Commissioner Timothy Schneider, R-Bartlett, remained the only candidates to file for those positions.
The same could not be said in the race for U.S. Congress, as another name has been added to an already large field of Republicans vying to unseat U.S. 8th District Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington, a Democrat.
The list of hopefuls now includes Mundelein resident Gregory S. Jacobs, who joins Maria Rodriguez of Long Grove and Barrington residents Christopher Geissler, John Dawson and Dirk Beveridge. Bean was the only Democrat to file.
There are now eight candidates in the 14th Congressional District, as Rep. Bill Foster, who filed for re-election Monday morning, will face off with one Democrat and a slew of Republicans and one Green Party candidate all looking to unseat him.
In the Democratic primary, Foster will go up against James Pistorius of Aurora, who announced his candidacy in September. On the other side of the ticket, every previously announced Republican handed in their petitions on time, including state Rep. Randy Hultgren of Winfield, Ethan Hastert of Elburn (son of former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert), Jeff Danklefsen of Geneva, Mark Vargas of Elgin and Jim Purcell of Batavia.
And then there is Dan Kairis of South Elgin, the lone Green Party candidate. Kairis previously ran for the Illinois House in the 55th District and has run for other offices as a Republican and a Reform Party candidate. He's also received press as a member of the Illinois Minutemen, an organization that opposes illegal immigration.
The primary election is scheduled for Feb. 2. Independent candidates have until June 2 to file to be included onto the ballot for the general election in November.
