Maybe the IEA Should Sit Out GOP Primaries
Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich), Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City), and then-Sen. Darren Bailey at a news conference in 2022. The Illinois Education Association unsuccessfully challenged Niemerg and Wilhour in the March primary.
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OPINION
Republican primaries are strange things.
Add the impact of Donald Trump’s hold on the GOP, the further conservative hardening of southern Illinois, and the antagonistic view of many Republicans hold toward public sector unions, one would wonder why a major union would want to wade into the soupy slough of Republican politics.
The Illinois Education Association tried anyway.
IEA and its group of political operatives attempted to engineer the ouster of Freedom Caucus conservative Representatives Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City.)
Not only did IEA recruit candidates, they spent a metric ton of cash on their candidates.
IEA and other unions recruited prison guard Matt Hall to challenge Wilhour.
IEA spent around $66,000 directly for Hall, while the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), another major teachers’ union, kicked in another $35,000.
Meanwhile, IEA engineered Niemerg’s removal from the March ballot after finding a goof in his nominating petitions. They had a miserable time recruiting a candidate to face Niemerg, eventually convincing interim Ogden Mayor and school superintendent Jim Acklin to get in the race at the literal last minute. So literal, in fact, they didn’t have enough time to get him on the ballot in every county in the district.
IEA gave Acklin the maximum $68,500, while IFT kicked in another $35,000.
(Disclosure: I worked on Acklin’s 2016 House race but had nothing to do with this race.)
It’s not that Acklin or Hall were closet Democrats. Hall is Chairman of the Fayette County Republican Party, while Acklin is lockstep with House Republicans on nearly every issue, with the notable exception of extending the Invest in Kids scholarship program.
IEA simply wanted Republicans in southern Illinois districts who wouldn’t be antagonistic to them. The union has always been clear it wanted Republicans downstate it could get along with (think Dan Brady or Norine Hammond) without an expectation those Republicans would be voting with them in lockstep.
The real gut punch for IEA came from its outside spending in the race.
IEA opened an Independent Expenditure (IE) committee at the end of February, dumping $260,000 into the account.
It spent around $130,000 each for Acklin and Hall, draining their initial investment.
They spent the exact same money on the exact same GOP consultant who did the exact same thing for the candidates in vastly different races, and found the same result.
When the dust settles, each Niemerg and Wilhour will each have secured around 80% in their races.
Motivating Republican voters to be angry with a Trump-like lawmaker in Niemerg and write in the name of an opponent is a really hard task for a 30-second TV commercial.
IEA spent money on TV, radio, direct mail, digital, and texting. There are no expenditures for paid door knockers or any sort of a field program in the 102nd District.
It was treated like a cookie cutter GOP race when, it reality, it had more layers than a giant French croissant.
The union and its consultant clearly don’t know how to talk to downstate Republican voters, especially not in 2024.
IEA’s foray into GOP politics isn’t unprecedented, but hasn’t happened in a few years.
In 2018, the union supported Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) and Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) in their successful primaries. They also put money behind former Rep. David Reis, who lost his seat to a guy named Darren Bailey. I wonder what happened to him.
IEA also played in the open seat won by Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur). The union spent $55,000 on his opponent, then-Piatt County Board Chairman Randy Keith.
(Disclosure: IEA’s expenditures in the Caulkins/Keith race were to my former firm to buy TV ads.)
It’s not a track record of success.
We asked the IEA yesterday if they would continue playing in downstate GOP primaries and they did not respond.
One has to think IEA is going to stay away from Republican primaries for the time being.
A bunch of teachers should know when the math doesn’t add up.
