Two Republicans Making Sounds They Want to Challenge Lauren Underwood

From the Illinois News Network:

Republicans make plans to unseat newly elected Rep. Underwood in 2020

A new Democrat in Congress already has a challenger for re-election in 2020.

Loren Underwood

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, recently was sworn in after defeating incumbent Randy Hultgren in November.

Republican Matt Quigley said he already knows she’s not the right fit for Illinois’ 14th congressional district.

“Given Lauren Underwood’s plans for her time in Congress, I felt it didn’t align with my values,” Quigley said.

“Having grown up in Warrenville, I felt those values she was proposing were not the values that made the area great in the first place.”

Quigley officially has announced he will run next year in the GOP primary for the seat.

He graduated from Wheaton Warrenville South high school and now makes his home in Naperville.

“I found [Underwood’s] campaign to be very disingenuous and divisive,” Quigley said.

“After the fact, I haven’t seen any attempt by Lauren Underwood, since she’s been elected, to reach out to the more conservative side of the district. Instead, I’ve seen efforts to spike the ball.”

He might not be the only challenger.

Jim Oberweis

State Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, told the Chicago Tribune that he was considering a run in the 14th Congressional District.

Quigley is a former naval officer who now runs his own software company. He’s worried large student debt loads could prevent the next generation of Illinois residents from financial success.

“If we’re going to have Illinois prosper with people buying homes and owning their own business, we have to solve the student debt crisis immediately,” Quigley said.

“That’s something I didn’t hear anyone talking about, especially on the Republican side. I haven’t seen a good plan from Lauren Underwood or anyone on the Democratic side either.”

While serving as an Executive Officer at Naval Station Great Lakes, Quigley attended the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and earned his Masters in Business Administration.

“I intend to move heavily on making student loan reform a priority so we can ensure long-term growth and stability both in Illinois and our country as a whole,” Quigley said.

He gives credit to Underwood for running a great campaign in 2018, but said he believes some outside factors contributed to the reliably red district turning blue.

“There was a combination of a Rauner effect and a Trump effect,” Quigley said.

“Trump motivated Democrats to turn out.

“And Rauner motivated a lot of conservatives, especially up in McHenry County, to not show up at the polls at all.”

The 14th congressional district covers parts of northeastern Illinois, including portions of Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb, Kendall, DuPage, and Will counties.

“Looking forward, I’ve already seen a lot of Republican interest in this race,” Quigley said.

“By starting right now, I plan to organize and make sure Republicans have a comparable, if not better, ground game [than Democrats].”

Quigley is of no relation to Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, who currently serves the state’s 5th congressional district.

Underwood did not respond to a request for comment.


Comments

Two Republicans Making Sounds They Want to Challenge Lauren Underwood — 10 Comments

  1. So republicans have to choice between an older gentleman and a kid who doesn’t live in the district?

    Why not someone like Wilcox?

  2. Don’t worry, they are as dedicated to big government and identity politics as she is.

  3. Many public figures, such as Hilary Clinton, have been telling Americans to vote for women candidates primarily because they are women. Qualifications, positions on issues are diminished in value. Have to wonder if Underwood won mainly because of being a woman.

  4. Which candidate has access to about $6,000,000?

    It will take a lot of paid ‘boots on the ground’ to overwhelm the Democrat paid ‘boots on the ground’.

    This past election the Dems went through about $5,000,000 to defeat Hultgren.

    Had Rauner stepped aside and let Ives run, it would have been a very different outcome.

    wisha, woulda, coulda.

    Some numbers relative to known cash on hand:

    Rodney Davis: $93,192.15

    Adam Kinzinger campaign account: $1,079,828.99
    Kinzinger Future First committee: $37,756.00

    Oberweis cash on hand: $22,461.01

    Lauren Underwood: $139,350.86

    Randy Hultgren: $468.51

    These numbers may be off a bit because the FEC is closed until the next budget is approved.

  5. Let me just say, I am a women.

    Women who vote for women, just because they are women, ARE IDIOTS!!

  6. Imagine what would happen to our economy if we decided to restrict campaign financing to only permit contributions to candidates you can vote for.

    Underwood’s campaign fed almost $100,000 in Credit Card Processing fees out of her campaign fund into the banks.

  7. With 535 members in Congress but only 21 GOP women, these comments crack me up.

    I’m confused… woman have it too easy and just walk into congress because they are women and they have such an advantage?

    Is that why men greatly outnumber the women in Congress?

    The comments on this board as lazy and predictable as the opponent Underwood defeated.

    Lauren Underwood didn’t win because she was a woman.

    She won because she ran a wonderful campaign and she was a wonderful candidate.

    In the only debate I heard, she was well prepared and spoke intelligently on all the issues.

    Hultgren was nervous and seemed to be unsure of the words coming out of his mouth.

    She won everywhere, including McHenry County.

    To sum it up, on one hand, Hultgren and the GOP tried to take healthcare away from 20M Americans.

    And on the other hand, Lauren Underwood is a woman. LOLGOP.

  8. Rumor has it Oberweis is already saying he is going to start with an initial investment of $1 million of his own money.

    And Mr. Skillicorn also is thought to be looking into running too.

  9. Did the lady get any campaign contributions from billionaire creeps such as Soros or Steyer?

  10. wtf are you babbling about patriot_rider?

    Skillicorn aint a kid he’s like 44.

    Quigley is in his thirties but is Navy veteran with male pattern baldness — hardly a kid.

    Warrenville seems to be part of the 14th district which means Quigley wouldn’t be a carpetbagger like Skillicorn.

    If he is a carpetbagger then he should drop out.

    No carpetbaggers.

    If GOP wants to win they need serious people.

    The fact you think people in their thirties or forties are kids shows how old and stupid the GOP is.

    You lost an election to a fake nurse.

    Absolutely pathetic.

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