(The Center Square) – Two weeks from the midterm election, some satehouse races are close, potentially putting some Chicagoland-area GOP seats at risk of flipping and creating more of Democrat dominance in Illinois.
Party officials told The Center Square about the top races they’re hoping to win this year, as property and other taxes are priority issues in almost every key race.
House District 47
Current state Rep. Amy Grant, R-Wheaton, chose to not run for reelection after four terms representing the district.
Vying for the seat is Democrat Erica Bray-Parker, a high school teacher and Wheaton councilwoman, and Republican businessman Robert Vrankovich from Carol Stream.
On the issue of taxes, Bray-Parker called to increase the share of state income tax that is distributed to local governments from its current 6.47% back to the historic 10% to ease property taxes imposed by localities.
Vrankovich has called for spending and tax cuts at the state level as part of his platform.
House District 97
The 97th District race saw a shakeup as incumbent Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, resigned following an investigation into multiple complaints from women n July.
Benton was replaced on the ballot and in Springfield by Rep. Jessica Dixon Heitman, granddaughter of former U.S. Sen. Alan J. Dixon, D-Ill.
Dixon Heitman faces Republican opponent Gabby Shanahan, who ran and lost to Benton by about 2.3%, or about 2,300 votes, in 2024.
Minority Leader Tony McCombie said at a GOP event that the party is strongly supporting Shanahan, while she criticized House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch for previously backing Benton.
“She should be the one in office right now, but Speaker Welch wanted to keep a creep in office, spend $1.4 million and here we are. He could have given up one seat and he wouldn’t have lost one ounce of power in the General Assembly,” McCombie said.
Senate District 26, House District 51
In the Chicagoland area are two races connected by one candidate, Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Palatine. Syed, the incumbent in the 51st House District, is challenging Sen. Darby Hills, R-Lake Zurich, in the 26th Senate District.
Syed told The Center Square she wants to see sweeping tax reforms for the state.
“We have to seriously re-evaluate the way that we fund education in our state and do what we can to lessen the cost on school districts, whether it’s cutting expensive mandates, whether it is funding education a lot more through the state budget and I think that requires a re-evaluation of our entire tax system,” Syed said.
Hills was appointed in 2025 after her predecessor resigned, and hasn’t run in the district until this year, but has highlighted pieces of legislation she’s introduced to ease costs and taxes for the residents of her district.
Meanwhile, in the race to fill Syed’s House seat are Democrat Jenny Levin and Republican Lori Smith.
Levin, an emergency and trauma nurse, supports the state adopting a graduated income tax and expanding sales taxes to “services used by the wealthy,” according to her campaign. Smith, meanwhile, opposes additional state spending and has called for stronger auditing of state spending.
