Pugnacious in Peoria: A Long Running Feud Spilling into House Primary
Rep. Mark Luft (R-Pekin) is facing a primary challenge from Travis Weaver, the son of former Sen. Chuck Weaver. Luft appears to be the recipient of the fallout from a long running feud in Peoria area Republican politics.
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There’s a line from a “House of Cards” episode talking about the brand of diplomacy dished out in Frank Underwood’s hometown of Gaffney, SC.
“Shake with your right hand, but hold a rock in your left,” he says.
It feels like a good analogy for a long-running fight inside Peoria area Republican politics.
There are two distinct camps in this feud. The first centers around former Congressman and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, his son, incumbent Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Peoria), and Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria). The other finds a group aligned with former Aaron Schock Chief of Staff and political operative Steve Shearer, former Sen. Chuck Weaver, and incumbent Sen. Win Stoller (R-East Peoria).
“Basically, Darin and Ryan think Shearer is a crook and can’t be trusted,” a local Republican said. “And Shearer hates LaHood and Spain.”
(Disclosure: Shearer and I discussed working on a primary together in 2019, but nothing ever came of it.)
Travis Weaver, the 29-year-old son of Sen. Chuck Weaver challenging Rep. Mark Luft (R-Pekin).
Many of the hard feelings stem from a 2015 lawsuit filed against Schock, Darin LaHood, and the Peoria County Republican Central Committee by Dick Burns, the husband of Department of Natural Resources Director Colleen Callahan. The suit claimed Schock and LaHood signed a letter, engineered by Shearer, that made false claims about about Burns.
Local Republicans tell me after Schock resigned in disgrace in 2015, Shearer aligned himself with Weaver. Weaver had replaced Darin LaHood in the Senate when LaHood was elected to replace Schock. Shearer and Weaver engineered Stoller’s uncontested replacement of Weaver in 2020, similar to a move two Democrats pulled off last month.
Shearer apparently attacked Spain in a letter in 2015 as Shearer supported a different candidate for the Senate appointment eventually won by Weaver.
“Spain may be able to sell ice cream to an Eskimo but he has sold out the interests of Republicans too many times to be trusted with this appointment,” the mailer reportedly said.
“Steve Shearer has been a constant source of division and destruction for me and for our party for too long,” said Spain, who now chairs the House Republican campaign arm. “I don’t really know what I ever did to him.”
Neither Shearer or Stoller returned messages from The Illinoize Thursday evening.
How does Luft fit in? Well, the Pekin Mayor organized a ballot access campaign at the last minute in 2019 when then-Rep. Mike Unes announced he wouldn’t seek re-election. He has Spain’s strong support, which puts him right in the firing line between the LaHood camp and the Shearer camp.
In early drafts of the state legislative map, Stoller was likely to be in a primary with Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savana), but House Republicans worked to tamp down the primary and smooth over hard feelings. Senate Republicans went all-in for Stoller, and Shearer wrote a news release for Stoller last July blasting McCombie for creating a “divisive Senate primary.”
After the McCombie primary disappeared in the final maps, we’re told Shearer and Weaver put together the effort to build a campaign for Weaver’s son, Travis, to challenge Luft. The younger Weaver, we’re told, has begun airing negative ads against Luft.
Whether or not Luft survives the primary fight, the battle rages on among Peoria area GOP factions.
“How bad is it? It’s God awful,” said a local Republican source. “This sure isn’t on the road to recovery anytime soon.”
