Dennis Tipsword, Chief Deputy of the Woodford County Sheriff’s Department, won the June 28th Republican primary in the 105th Illinois State House District race over several other candidates. Tipsword won 39% of the vote outpacing his nearest challengers, Kyle Ham and Mike Kirkton who both received 23%.
In a press release after his primary victory Tipsword said, “I look forward to continuing to run on positive conservative reform issues in the general election as I seek the opportunity to serve the people of this district in the Illinois House of Representatives in Springfield.”
The 105th district is made up of parts of nine counties in central Illinois. It stretches from Hennepin to Tonica to Bloomington and Peoria.
Tipsword is unopposed in the general election.
Reflecting back on the primary Tipsword told Cities 92.9, “My biggest takeaway is the wonderful people I have met all across the district. The campaign took me places I may have otherwise never had an opportunity to go. I am grateful for these experiences and the friendships made and look forward to building on them in the future.”
Tipsword feels like his primary success was basically due to hard work and that he simply outworked the other candidates who he credited as being well qualified. He also believes that he was stronger than his opponents on helping small businesses and that his law enforcement background resonated well with a lot of conservative voters.
Currently Tipsword says he is “still using this time to familiarize myself with the district and continue to meet with public officials and constituents to educate myself with their ongoing projects and future needs. My goal is for them to have a seamless transition to their new representative in January.”
Tipsword has visited McLean County at least twice since the primary, appearing at the Corn Crib for the McLean County Republican’s Night on July 22 and at the McLean County Republican Candidates night at the McLean County Fair on August 8.
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Looking toward the general election Tipsword is hoping, “that we as Republicans can coalesce behind our nominees and get them to the finish line. We seem all to often to become so polarized fighting with each other in the primary we never seem to all come back together for the general election. This is a must for the election if we hope to be successful.”
Towards that end Tipsword met for breakfast at Woody’s in El Paso on July 14th with Representative Tom Bennett where he also bumped into Woodford County Board Chair John Krug and board member Jerry Smith. On July 28th he talked with DePue Village President Dan Hoffert and Bureau County Republican Chairman Barry Welbers at the Lake DePue Pro/Mod/Jr National Championship boat races.
