About The Illinoize

Patrick Pfingsten has been around politics his entire adult life. As a young reporter in 2005, heritage radio station WDWS in Champaign named him political reporter and an infatuation with Illinois government, politics, and elections was born. As a reporter, Patrick covered state and local politics, as well as the first presidential campaign of then Illinois Senator Barack Obama. He launched the station's first podcast as well as a Sunday morning news and discussion show where he grilled politicians from both parties on the important issues of the day. Governor Pat Quinn was also once quoted as calling Patrick a "professional naysayer."  In his time as a reporter, Patrick hosted numerous debates, including co-hosting a gubernatorial debate in 2010. Also in 2010, he was honored by the Illinois Broadcasters Association with a "Silver Dome" award as the best reporter in the state for his coverage of Governor Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial in 2009. 

He moved into the political world in 2011, He was campaign manager for then-State Representative Jason Barickman's state senate primary in 2012, defeating an incumbent senator by 19 points. In the fall of 2012, he was Communications Director for Rep. Rodney Davis' first run for Congress, a race they won by just 1,000 votes out of about 295,000 votes cast. He later worked on the Illinois Senate Republican communications staff and lobbied lawmakers on behalf of corn and soybean farmers. Since 2016, he has run his own PR and consulting firm, Pf Communications, LLC, working on a variety of PR and marketing campaigns, as well as for numerous state legislative, judicial, and congressional candidates. He has also had opinion pieces run in newspapers around the state. 

Patrick believes that in recent years, through cutbacks and buyouts and the hollowing out of newsrooms, we’ve seen less and less coverage of the politics and government that are important to our cities, state, and country. To the point that the only “interviews” that are done are with surveys that candidates never write and on-air spots that are hardly more than a chance to regurgitate talking points, never with follow up, facts, and the challenging of positions.

The Illinoize will cut through the noise of Illinois politics and government. We will not only include work from quality journalists who will work with us and help provide a better understanding of what is happening in government and why. 

We publish content every day. Whether it’s our “Free for All” news summaries, main newsletter on Tuesdays, or subscriber-only newsletters on Wednesdays and Fridays, we try to put the most important stories that impact you in front of you each day. You can subscribe here.

The Illinoize will clearly denote news and opinion pieces on this website. More than anything, we believe you should be allowed to make your own decisions when you see what we write or present. 

Come along with us on the journey, would you? Welcome to The Illinoize.