Sen. Brian Stewart to Retire, Rep. Andrew Chesney to Seek Senate, Cabello for House
Sen. Brian Stewart (R-Dixon) will announce Friday he won’t seek re-election in 2022.
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In an announcement planned for Friday afternoon, Sen. Brian Stewart (R-Freeport), will announce he will not seek re-election to the Senate later this year, setting off a chain reaction that will give the northwest portion of the state a far more outspoken conservative tilt.
Stewart was appointed to the House in 2013, then elected to the Senate in 2018. He’s an Army Veteran and was a longtime Stephenson County Sheriff’s Deputy, retiring with the rank of Sergeant.
He was absent from Springfield for much of the 2021 session, often voting remotely.
Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) will run for Stewart’s Senate seat, we’re told. Chesney is an outspoken conservative who has ruffled some Democratic feathers on the House floor over the years, so it will be interesting to see how he fits in to the Senate.
Chesney’s new 90th district seat will then be open, allowing a potential return to the General Assembly for former Rep. John Cabello. Speaking of firebrand conservatives, he was an early adopter of Trumpism in 2016 and was heavily targeted by Democrats in 2020, losing by just 239 votes to now-Rep. Dave Vella (D-Rockford).
Relatedly, Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savana) is seeking the new 89th seat, which stretches from the Mississippi River to almost DeKalb. She had been toying with a run for Senate before the final version of the maps were approved.