GOP Sees Suburban Pickup Opportunity Over Freshman Benton
Rep. Harry Benton (D-Plainfield) and his GOP challenger, Gabby Shanahan.
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In a narrow path for Republicans to gain any seats in the Illinois House this fall, they need candidates who can outperform the party in recent election cycles and “steal” a seat or two, as one GOP operative described it to us last week.
One of those potential opportunities for Republicans may just be in the far southwest suburbs of Chicago. Democrat freshman Rep. Harry Benton (D-Plainfield), who was elected to the House two years ago to replace former GOP Rep. Mark Batinick, who didn’t seen re-election in a more Democrat-leaning, gerrymandered new district.
Benton, a union ironworker, has staked moderate positions in his first term, including voting against the House Democrat budget and business tax increases in the spring legislative session.
But Republicans are high on their candidate, Gabby Shanahan, an Illinois Policy Institute staffer who lost a race for Kendall County Board in 2022.
“People are really excited about a candidate that represents them [and] their beliefs and feels what they’re going through,” she said. “I’m a working mom, I have three kids, so I understand what it feels like to spend a billion dollars on groceries for the week and gas is [expensive], filling up my SUV every week. Those kinds of things resonate with people.”
Benton believes his work in and for the district will help him with voters.
“We’re getting a lot of good feedback, a lot of people who say ‘you’re doing a great job,’ so that’s a pretty good feeling,” Benton said. “We put in a lot of work in the district in non-election time and now in election season and trying to be straight up with people and having real discussions.”
Both candidates say they’re spending much of their time knocking on doors. Benton says property taxes, health care costs, affordable child care, and cost of living are the top issues he’s hearing about from voters.
Shanahan says property taxes, inflation, and the cost of living are the top issues she talks about at doors.
Both say reducing property taxes has to be a priority for the General Assembly.
“We need to start having conversations about what is being funded in the budget. There’s extra spending that we shouldn’t prioritize,” Shanahan said. “We should be looking to give more money to education.”
Additional school funding, she said, could be used to bring down property tax rates around the state.
Benton pointed to a bill he passed that requires exemptions to be listed on property tax bills so more people can see what exemptions they can be eligible for.
“I want to start seeing some cuts across the board where we can start pushing money out to frontload some of the pension deficit,” Benton said.
As a moderate Democrat advocating for spending cuts and voting against the budget, Benton says he feels like a “fish out of water” in the Democratic caucus, which is rapidly becoming more progressive.
Democrats continue to make abortion a top issue in November. Shanahan says it shouldn’t be a political issue in Illinois.
“We need to stop making abortion a political issue. We need to start having conversations about finding common ground,” Shanahan said, claiming she’s in favor of a statewide ballot referendum on the issue. “It shouldn’t be a legislative issue.”
But Benton says its a top issue in their district.
“Choice is a big issue. I’ve got a clear cut record on choice,” Benton said, “I’ve been here fighting for IVF and choice. There are people that are trying to take away rights and they are trying to be quiet about it, but they are very much so willing to take away those rights. We are going to fight to make sure that politicians stay the hell out of doctor’s offices.”
But Shanahan says Benton has a track record of “talking out of both sides of his mouth” on legislative issues.
“My opponent says one thing in the district and does another thing in Springfield,” she said. “He’s saying in mailers he was supportive of eliminating the grocery tax. But, when we go and look at his record, he chose not to vote on it.”
Benton said he supports eliminating the grocery tax, but opposed the bill allowing municipalities to create new grocery taxes without a referendum and wanted an increase in local government funding to go along with it.
“There’s a clear cut difference on who’s going to work for working families and who’s not,” Benton said. “My opponent is being funded by some dark money groups. I’m here to fight for people, not special interests.”
Democrats are attempting to make Shanahan’s employer, the libertarian-leaning Illinois Policy Institute, an issue in the race. Shanahan is executive assistant to IPI President Matt Paprocki. She claims her job is “apolitical.”
“I don’t let where I work, who signs my paychecks, define who I am,” she said. “Of course I believe in efficient government and transparent government, but I’m not running as an IPI plant. I’m running because our state is broken and I want to fix it for my children.”
President Biden won the district by around ten points in 2020. Governor Pritzker won it by about seven points in 2022.
While Republicans have been generally outgunned in legislative races so far this year, the GOP is keeping pace with Democrats over the last month. Since September 1, House Democrats have spent around $264,000 for Benton on digital ads, direct mail, and staff. In the same period, House Republicans have spent around $218,000. In the same time, Benton has raised $168,000 in large donations while Shanahan has reported around $17,000 in large contributions.