‘Unnecessary angst’: Partisan politics creeping into local races

With the exception of township races and a few municipal campaigns, the local elections held every other spring in Illinois are nonpartisan — that is, candidates don’t say whether they’re Republicans, Democrats or members of another national political party.

But partisan politics have crept into many suburban contests that’ll be decided Tuesday.

The McHenry County Democratic Party is promoting candidates in more than 90 local races this cycle. Democratic township organizations in the Wheeling, Elk Grove and Mundelein areas are among those pushing their preferred candidates, too.

In Naperville, Democratic U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Bill Foster are actively campaigning for city council candidates Benny White, Mary Gibson, Ian Holzhauer and Ashfaq Syed and park district hopefuls Rhonda Ansier, Leslie Ruffing, Alison Thompson and Aishwarya Balakrihna.

Underwood and Foster, both of Naperville, have appeared together on campaign flyers created by Underwood’s Farm Team political action committee and in photographs with the candidates that have been shared on social media.

DuPage County Republican Party Chair Kevin Coyne responded on social media by endorsing Naperville City Council candidates Derek McDaniel, Jennifer Taylor and Meghna Bansal.

Coyne’s activity this cycle doesn’t end there. Although not strictly a partisan organization, the Safe Suburbs USA political action committee he founded and leads has endorsed dozens of suburban candidates.

Coyne said it’s “very tough” for local-level candidates to run without support from a major political party today. Parties can provide the grass-roots support for door-to-door campaigning, social media campaigns and more, he said.

Even so, Coyne called partisanship’s bleed into local politics “unfortunate.”

“It brings unnecessary angst, drama and dysfunction to local government,” said Coyne, a former Naperville City Council member. “And it’s going to make these races increasingly nasty.”

In Arlington Heights, village board candidate Michele Hunter — a two-time Republican state House hopeful — was informally but enthusiastically endorsed this month by Dan Patlak, president of the Republicans of Wheeling Township organization, while he was a guest on a WIND 560 AM political radio show.

Patlak described Hunter as “a wonderful person and a wonderful candidate” and urged Arlington Heights residents to vote for her.

In Aurora’s mayoral race, Alderman John Laesch — a two-time Democratic congressional candidate — has received substantial financial assistance from the Democratic Party of Illinois in his attempt to unseat incumbent Richard Irvin, a 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate. The state Democratic Party has spent more than $150,000 on mailings, polling and digital ads for Laesch this month alone, state records indicate.

Laesch also has received donations from a few Democratic state lawmakers’ campaign committees, records show, as well as endorsements from Democratic U.S. Reps. Delia Ramirez and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

As for Irvin, records show his campaign received a $1,000 boost from Republican state Sen. Donald DeWitte in February, among other donations.

Elsewhere, the Kane County Democratic organization is promoting candidates in dozens of nonpartisan races. In response, the county’s GOP group is telling its website visitors to look at the Democrats endorsements “and vote the opposite.”

The trend reflects a change in the way Americans think about politics, said Melissa Mouritsen, a political science professor at the College of DuPage. It’s a lot like the way diehard sports fans obsessively support their teams, she said.

“I root for my team no matter what, because it is my team and your team is terrible,” Mouritsen said.

Additionally, people tend to vote against candidates or stances they oppose rather than for those they support, Mouritsen said.

“We used to ask the question, ‘Is there a Republican or Democrat way to picking up the trash?’” Mouritsen explained. “But now we are saying, ‘How can we afford to let the other party pollute our government with their poisonous ideas?”

That was essentially Lake County Democratic leaders’ mindset when they texted a digital campaign flyer to potential voters urging them not to elect three College of Lake County board candidates. The piece labeled Dawn Abernathy, Janet Gibson and Francine Zodda “right-wing Republican extremists.”

Incumbents Jesus Gerena and Torrie Mark Newsome and challengers Vaseem Iftekhar and Riaz Yusuff also are in the race for two seats with 6-year terms; Celeste Flores is running unopposed for a 2-year term. The ad didn’t mention any of them.

When asked why the group brought partisan politics into a nonpartisan school board race with a negative ad, Chair Lauren Beth Gash said it was a response to attacks on education by President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

The ad upset Abernathy, a former Mundelein village trustee who leads the Libertyville Township GOP organization.

“I am running as an independent, whether you know my party affiliation or not,” said Abernathy, who unsuccessfully campaigned for the state House in 2016. “This is about the issues (of CLC). It should not be about partisanship or a party.”