New Illinois 14th Congressional District. Click to enlarge.

Former McHenry Alderman and Democratic Party Chairman in McHenry County Frank McClatchey has sent the following email withdrawing his candidacy for Congress in the 14th District against Republican Randy Hultgren.

There is a candidate from Gurnee, Dennis Anderson. Gurnee is about as far east in this far-flung district as one can get.

The winner of the Democratic Party primary election will face off against Republican Randy Hultgren.

Here’s McClatchey’s email today:

Today, former McHenry Alderman Frank McClatchey announced that he will not be a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois 14th District.

I got in the race to run and win against Joe Walsh, the Congressman in the district now, and I know that constituents could have done much better by electing me.

>With Walsh out of the race, and no primary for Walsh against Congressman Hultgren, the road to victory has been closed, McClatchey said.

Frank McClatchey

McClatchey has served as the small business coordinator for the Illinois office of the U.S. Senate, was the consumer advocate for the Chicago office of the Illinois Attorney General and owned a business in McHenry.

I hope Congress will work together to solve the critical problems of the day, and also work on campaign finance reform to get money out of politics, said McClatchey, who has a solid background of working across political aisles to do what is best for constituents, regardless of which party is at the helm.

This was not an easy decision, and I thank the hundreds of people who helped me with our petition drive, and raising donations,” McClatchey said.