Is the Open 45th the Suburban Race to Watch?
Elmhurst City Council member Marti Deuter and former Rep. Dennis Reboletti are competing for the open 45th House District seat in the Chicago suburbs.
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One of the most watched legislative races in the Chicago suburbs in 2024 is in a district that was the most narrowly decided two years ago.
The 45th District includes Elmhurst, Oak Brook, and Hinsdale and is mostly DuPage County based, but includes a small portion of Cook County. Rep. Jenn Ladisch-Douglass (D-Elmhurst) beat incumbent Deanne Mazzochi by 364 votes. Ladisch-Douglass is not seeking re-election.
Democrats have recruited social worker Marti Deuter, who has spent 11 years on the Elmhurst City Council as their nominee for the seat. Former Rep. Dennis Reboletti, who served in the House from 2007-2015 and is the current Addison Township Supervisor, is the GOP nominee. Reboletti lost a race for Illinois Senate in 2022.
Reboletti, who says his positions on some social issues, like abortion, have “evolved” since his first stint in the House, says he’s trying to run a campaign Republicans can use to be effective in the suburbs.
“We are running a campaign that suburban Republicans need to run not only in this cycle, but in the future,” he said. “It is about mainstream moderate people that care about the kitchen table issues, the everyday issues that people face.”
Democrats have followed their recent playbook making many of their attacks on Reboletti about abortion.
“What their whole message is about how I voted in 2012 and 2014, well 10 years ago and 12 years ago, I was a different person than I am today,” Reboletti said. “And as I’ve seen, and I’ve had frustrations with the Republican Party at the national level and some of the very red states that have forced women to go to other states for their own personal well being to have a procedure frustrated me to the point to that’s not the Republican that I am. So I think you can call me almost a "Roe Republican, a moderate Republican.”
Reboletti said he supports abortion rights for the life and health of the mother and in the cases of rape and incest.
Deuter declined an interview with The Illinoize, claiming Monday “I am knocking doors today, which is where my time has been focused.” The Illinoize first asked her for an interview September 4.
Deuter, who appeared to be reading prepared answers, told a Daily Herald endorsement interview Reboletti is out of line with the district on abortion.
“It’s, I think, worth pointing out that my opponent, when he was in Springfield, opposed every reproductive health protection that came up,” she said.
Democrats are swamping Republicans in cash in the district, including Deuter’s purchase of Chicago broadcast TV ads.
Reboletti says the cash infusion is because Democrats believe they’re in danger of losing the seat.
“You’re going up [on TV] because you need to be up there. So, [for us], it is truly a house by house, it is not the and/or, you need the right amount of resources, of course we can always use more, but we are focusing the attention on we can win this seat and once we win this seat, this is the template that we’re going to use, I’m going to fight for more mainstream moderate Republicans like me that are governing conservatives.”
President Biden won the district by 17 points in 2020.