Election victories in districts covering small portions of the Metro East area were the silver lining in a day of defeats for Republican candidates in local legislative races.
Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Paul Schimpf, the Republican candidate for state Senate in District 58, defeated former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon (D-Carbondale) to fill the seat of retiring state Sen. David Luechtefeld (R-Okawville). Schimpf garnered about 61 percent of the district’s vote.
Schimpf will represent a swath of southern Illinois encompassing portions of Monroe, St. Clair, Randolph, Perry, Jefferson, Jackson and Union counties.
State Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) held on to her seat representing House District 95, defeating Mike Mathis of Gillespie, a Democrat. Bourne received 27,464 votes to 20,692 for Mathis, winning 57 percent of the district’s support.
The campaign for the district that includes all or parts of Madison, Macoupin, Montgomery and Christian counties garnered a lot of attention — and funding — from both political parties. Bourne said during the campaign that she represented the change to the status quo that voters were looking for. She was appointed to fill the position in 2015, during her first year of law school. She replaced former state Rep. Wayne Rosenthal (R-Morrisonville), who was appointed director of the Department of Natural Resources.
Elsewhere in Metro East, GOP candidates couldn’t overcome their Democratic opponents.
Katherine Ruocco, a Republican candidate for the House District 113 seat, lost to state Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea). The Metro East businesswoman and lawyer received 18,392 votes — about 41 percent. But it wasn’t enough to best the incumbent, who garnered 26,590 votes and secured 59 percent of the district’s support. District 113 includes parts of Madison and St. Clair counties.
During the campaign, Ruocco criticized Hoffman’s claims that he opposed property taxes by voting to freeze rates. Only one of those measures passed in the House, and it only applied to Swansea, she said. Ruocco appealed to voters by touting reforming property taxes, balancing the budget and ending wasteful spending.
State Rep. Daniel Beiser (D-Alton) kept his seat in House District 111, defeating Mike Babcock, a Republican, in a close race. Of the 46,993 votes cast in the district’s 99 precincts, Babcock garnered about 47 percent to Beiser’s nearly 53 percent. The district includes parts of Jersey and Madison counties.
Babcock lives in Bethalto and owns a financial consulting business in Glen Carbon. He served as the Wood River Township supervisor for eight years.
Bob Romanik, a Republican candidate for House District 114, lost to LaToya Greenwood, a Democrat. Of the 45,049 votes cast in the district in St. Clair County, Greenwood, an East St. Louis City Council member, took about 57 percent.
In April, the St. Clair County Republican Central Committee cut all ties with Romanik, a radio host from Belleville, after he verbally abused the GOP, its members and other candidates.
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