Democrat Effort to Avoid Contested Races Fail

Daniel Behr Placed On the November Election Ballot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 23, 2024

NORTHBROOK, IL --- The Illinois Supreme Court declined to overturn a Sangamon County Judge's May decision and the Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously voted to dismiss an objection to Dr. Daniel Behr's candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives 57th District seat, ensuring Behr will be a candidate in this November's election.

"I am relieved this ridiculous chapter emblematic of what is wrong with the Illinois General Assembly is over," Behr said. "My opponent has no defense for her vote on this bill or her and her allies' continued pursuit of having this law enforced retroactively. The way this law was passed and attempted to be implemented should insult and outrage every Illinois voter. Make no mistake: this bill was not aimed at me, but it was aimed at the hundreds of thousands of voters in the 57th District and other legislative districts across the state that would have had an uncontested state legislative race had they succeeded.  Now the voters get the last word, as they should in a democratic republic."

Behr, a longtime Northbrook resident, will face local Democratic Party boss Tracy Katz Muhl, a longtime local politician who has not had an opponent in her five previous appearances on a ballot. Katz Muhl, whose more than 50 percent weighted vote appointed herself to the seat made vacant by former State Rep. Jonathan Carroll's January resignation, voted in favor of SB2412, a bill that originally aimed to address issues with foster children and the Department of Children and Family Services. However, Katz Muhl did not vote on that version of the bill. Instead, she voted on an amendment to strip all that language out of the bill and another amendment that added numerous changes to the Election Code, including abolishing slating of candidates to the legislature only. The bill was amended and passed the House May 1, advanced through the Senate May 2 and was signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker May 3.

Under longstanding law, a political party can slate a candidate after the primary to run as the party's nominee in the general election if nobody ran in the primary. The nominated candidate would then have to get the same number of voter signatures required of primary candidates, and the candidate would have 75 days agfter the primary to be slated, collect the signatures, and file with the State Board of Elections. The Republican committeemen of Wheeling, Northfield, and New Trier townships as well as the Lake County Republican chairman slated Behr before a crowd of 100 after the polls closed on primary night March 19, 2024 at Hackney's on Lake in Glenview. Starting that night, Behr and his volunteers began collecting signatures of registered voters in the district. By the end of April, he had more than 500 signatures.

When the Behr team learned of the house's action on May 1, they began gathering petition sheets and continued to collect them the morning of May 2. After rapidly putting the nomination sheets together, a Dan Behr volunteer drove the nominating papers down to Springfield May 2, reaching the Board of Elections shortly after the Board closed at 4:30 p.m. Ordinarily, the Board remains open until 5 p.m. on the final day of filing. Behr's papers were officially filed at 8:41 a.m. May 3, five minutes after Pritzker signed the bill.

Behr subsequently joined several other slated candidates on a lawsuit argued by the Liberty Justice Center. The case argued that the General Assembly cannot make changes to election law restricting ballot access after the election cycle had started as it violates the right to vote and the equal protection clause The suit was filed against the State Board of Elections and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, but Speaker of the House Chris Welch "intervened" in the case, meaning that he joined the group of defendants. His taxpayer-paid attorney, Michael Kasper, argued in favor of the law because, among other things, Welch as Committeeman (not a taxpayer-funded office) did not like attending slating meetings per Kasper's arguments.

Sangamon County Judge Gail Noll agreed with the plaintiffs, stipiulating that while the bill can go into effect in future elections, the current slated candidates cannot be excluded from the ballot based on the new law. Welch appealed the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, which had heard all the arguments by July 8, but could not come to a majority conclusion as two justices recused themselves from the case. As such, the lower court's ruling is affirmed.

When the new law goes into effect for future cycles, vacancies on the ballot because no one ran in the primary can still be filled by slating for any office that is not for Illinois House or Illinois Senate. County positions such as Commissioner or Assessor, Statewide positions such as Treasurer, Federal offices such as Congress or U.S. Senate can still be filled by the slating process. Additionally, the law does not affect filling open legislative seats after the death or resignation of a representative or a senator. For example, with her more than 50 percent of the weighted vote as Northfield Township Democratic Committeewoman, Behr's opponent effectively appointed herself to the 57th District seat to serve the remaining term of elected representative Jonathan Carroll upon his resignation last January. And if a candidate drops out of the race after the primary, like Rep. Mark Walker did upon his decision to run for the now open Illinois Senate seat, the Democrats were able to slate a new candidate without voter input as they did with Nicole Grasse. Ironically, Grasse's opponent, Ronald Andermann of Arlington Heights, was a co-plaintiff on the lawsuit.

"The Democrats' attempt to subvert democracy in Illinois failed," said Northfield Township Republican Committeeman T.J. Brown, a resident of the 57th District. "Drawing what has been called the most-gerrymandered map in the nation was not enough; the Democrats do not trust our states' voters to make a choice in November. I am very grateful that people like the LJC's Jeffrey Schwab and fearless candidates like Daniel Behr stood up to defend our democracy. It was interesting timing that the day after Daniel Behr's opponent celebrated a presidential candidate selected solely by the will of party bosses behind closed doors, her efforts to shut down her opposition because she felt he should have run in the primary failed."

The election is Tuesday, November 5, but voters can request Vote By Mail ballots from the Cook County Clerk, and early voting begins at the five Cook County court houses on Wednesday, October 9 and countywide on Monday, October 21.