Rep. Mark Batinick, One of the House GOP's Perennially Endangered Members, Won't Seek Re-Election
Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), the Floor Leader for House Republicans who has overcome multiple well-funded Democrats since first being elected in 2014, won’t seek re-election next year.
Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), a rare suburban Republican to withstand multiple well-funded Democrat challengers in recent years, says he will not seek re-election in 2022.
Batinick made the announcement on his radio show on WJOL-AM in Joliet. Word began to get around House Republican circles late Wednesday morning.
Batinick was elected to replace then-Minority Leader Tom Cross in 2014, who ran for State Treasurer. He faced heavily funded challengers every two years that were supported by the House Democrats and former Speaker Michael Madigan. He won re-election in 2018 by about 500 votes.
“I guess, at this point, by year eight, the millions of dollars of negative ads that are either not true or out of context, I guess we kind of grew numb to that. They almost became funny,” Batinick said. “It’s a hard job if you do it right. There was no one particular thing.”
In the final legislative map approved by Democrats in September, Batinick’s district became slightly more Democratic, making a path to re-election more difficult. But, he said he wasn’t afraid of his electoral chances.
“I’ve overcome much more difficult elections than whatever this one was going to be,” he said. “At some point, what do you have left to prove? “
Batinick has risen to the rank of House Floor Leader and has become a well-respected legislator on both sides of the aisle.
Batinick says he is not planning on running for another office in the short term and said he had no plan to resign early or intervene to help pick a successor.