From Woodstock’s Joseph Monack:
State Rep Tries Removing Pro-Trump Candidate, Possible Oberweis Collusion
Longtime Congressman John Shimkus (R-15) is retiring and there’s a crowded GOP primary to fill his seat.
Six candidates filed.
Having choices is good for voters.
Unfortunately, some Republicans want fewer people running and want to act as gatekeepers, and sometimes those gatekeepers are elected Republican officials.
Enter Brad Halbrook, a state representative from downstate Illinois.
Two of the six Republican candidates in the fifteenth district, Kent Gray and Kimberly Wade, are being challenged by the same people:
- Robert Spencer and
- Brad Halbrook.
Why would Rep. Halbrook run interference for a congressional race and why did he specifically target these two individuals but not the other four (or any of the four Democrats)?
Not much is known about Wade, but Gray is the former director of the Illinois chapter of the Trump 2016 campaign.
Although Gray was eventually replaced in that role, it’s important to remember that he put himself out there by campaigning for Trump at a time when Trump was still considered either an unserious candidate or a Democratic plant by many in the Republican Party.
What Gray did took courage, and this is how he is rewarded by elected Republican officials?
Making things stranger, Halbrook is one of the more right-wing members of the Illinois GOP.
This is the guy who proposed legislation to separate Chicago from the rest of Illinois.
He is considered part of the “Eastern Bloc.”
One complaint you might hear from Eastern Bloc Republicans is that the GOP isn’t friendly enough to Trump.
That makes Halbrook’s challenge of Gray all the more ironic.
Things get weirder too.
Of the six Republicans and four Democrats who filed, the only two who were challenged (Wade and Gray) were also the only ones who had their petitions reviewed by someone named Travis Akin.
Is this the same Travis Akin who works as a spokesman for the Jim Oberweis campaign?
If so, how involved was Oberweis and why would Oberweis want to meddle in a downstate congressional election by limiting Republican voters’ choices?
State Representative Brad Halbrook and State Senator Jim Oberweis owe Republican voters an explanation.
Just because Akin is questioning those petitions and happens to work for Oberweis doesn’t mean Oberweis is involved.
Consultants do work for multiple campaigns at a time without coordination between the two campaigns.
Point well taken.
He just emailed me a press release from State Rep. David McSweeney.
find out their polling see if they are rhinos.. trying to escape the zoo
He should have done just a little more research.
According to Rich Miller, Kent Gray only submitted 83 sheets which is going to be well short of the minimum.
Gray is posting on social media how he was bamboozled by people who were supposed to collect signatures for him.
No word on what Halbrook’s problem with Wade is.
Cui Bono?
Correcting, this Mr. Monack who submitted this story has missed some additional key facts about State Rep. Halbrook’s involvement & I agree with the others, this has nothing to do with Jim Oberweis:
-The nominal front runner in this primary field is Mary Miller, the wife of State Representative Chris Miller, another member of the Eastern Bloc. Leaves little doubt whom Halbrook is doing this for.
-Targeting Kimberly Wade is obvious since that would leave Miller as the only woman in a 4-person field, if the objection is successful.
-Miller is using the same political consulting firm Catalina Lauf is using
–Capitol Fax published the results of a poll the Miller campaign conducted last week that showed Miller as the nominal frontrunner with the other four candidates in single digits and a whopping 63% undecided. Pollster was Remington Group, and may be the same pollster Catalina Lauf might use(?).
The poll used a sample size of 810 likely Republican primary voters, and had margin of error of 3.4%
Something I forgot to mention earlier this morning, IL-15 Republican candidate Mary Miller, according to yesterday’s Capitol Fax was endorsed by the House Freedom Fund, the fundraising arm for the House Freedom Caucus.
In other words, an endorsement which includes a PAC contribution/transfer to Miller’s candidacy, financially.
While that endorsement is not linked to the objection, considering the House Freedom Fund is also backing IL-06 Republican candidate Jeanne Ives pre-primary, this endorsement shows what the most conservative caucus in Congress, one revered by IL-14 candidate James Marter, thinks of Miller’s candidacy for Congress.
Thanks for the kind comments about my tenure as the Illinois State Director for the 2016 Trump campaign. Over the past few years, I’ve seen posts that mischaracterize why I left the campaign payroll. About two weeks before the March primary, I was at a particularly nasty point of my particularly nasty divorce. My ex wife was trying to reclaim my house and have the court evict me. At the same time, my youngest son was in the hospital.
While this was all incredibly stressful, I was weathering the storm. The Trump campaign was in great shape. All of our plans leading up to the primary were in motion. Various public polling showed us running away with the Illinois primary election, which we ultimately did. We won by over 125,000 votes. I also was elated that we won Missouri, the other state I managed.
Unfortunately, eight days before the Illinois primary, I started reporting to a new boss in New York. I’d never met him or talked to him, but he called me two Sundays prior to the election and read me the riot act about how he thought our Illinois efforts were a disaster. I strongly, but politely, disagreed and explained all we had done…along with a fairly long list of proposals that had been turned down by the national campaign due cost concerns.
After a heated discussion that ultimately switched to a texting battle with his boss included on the group text, I informed him what he could do to himself. My personal life was a mess, and if my employer wasn’t interested in supporting me, I wasn’t interested in hanging around. At that point in March, my contract with the Trump campaign was set to end in 8 days. A judge was ordering me to vacate my home in 5 days, and I had no way to move or place to go. I typed up a resignation letter and emailed it to Don McGahn.
In the end, my son recovered perfectly, I won the court case and kept my house, the new boss I feuded with was gone four weeks later, Trump won the Illinois and Missouri primaries I was responsible for, I received my contractual payment for winning and bought an old Bentley, Trump won the White House and I was in New York for election night, I worked on the 2017 Presidential Inaugural, I worked for the Trump White House for two and a half years traveling all over the world, I got appointed by the White House to a senior position at HUD, and now I’m running for Congress. It’s been a fun ride!
I was ultimately “replaced” as the Illinois Trump State Director five months later in August by a fine person who was the State Director for the General Election. That was a job I had no interest in, since we lost Illinois by double digits.
I remain incredibly proud of having worked for President Trump beginning in the summer of 2015. I was one of the original 17 senior staff members on the campaign. Yes, sometimes I wish I hadn’t gotten pissed off and quit right before the primary. At the time, I didn’t feel appreciated. Ultimately, everything worked out for the best, and I ended up being among the longest serving members of the early campaign staff still with the White House. Life in Trump world seems to have many twists and turns!
Thanks for letting me vent. I thought some of the die hards might like to know what actually happened. Stay tuned about developments in the 15th District race. It’s getting interesting down here!
Thanks for the kind comments about my tenure as the Illinois State Director for the 2016 Trump campaign. Over the past few years, I’ve seen posts that mischaracterize why I left the campaign payroll. About two weeks before the March primary, I was at a particularly nasty point of my particularly nasty divorce. My ex wife was trying to reclaim my house and have the court evict me. At the same time, my youngest son was in the hospital.
While this was all incredibly stressful, I was weathering the storm. The Trump campaign was in great shape. All of our plans leading up to the primary were in motion. Various public polling showed us running away with the Illinois primary election, which we ultimately did. We won by over 125,000 votes. I also was elated that we won Missouri, the other state I managed.
Unfortunately, eight days before the Illinois primary, I started reporting to a new boss in New York. I’d never met him or talked to him, but he called me two Sundays prior to the election and read me the riot act about how he thought our Illinois efforts were a disaster. I strongly, but politely, disagreed and explained all we had done…along with a fairly long list of proposals that had been turned down by the national campaign due cost concerns.
After a heated discussion that ultimately switched to a texting battle with his boss included on the group text, I informed him what he could do to himself. My personal life was a mess, and if my employer wasn’t interested in supporting me, I wasn’t interested in hanging around. At that point in March, my contract with the Trump campaign was set to end in 8 days. A judge was ordering me to vacate my home in 5 days, and I had no way to move or place to go. I typed up a resignation letter and emailed it to Don McGahn.
In the end, my son recovered perfectly, I won the court case and kept my house, the new boss I feuded with was gone four weeks later, Trump won the Illinois and Missouri primaries I was responsible for, I received my contractual payment for winning and bought an old Bentley, Trump won the White House and I was in New York for election night, I worked on the 2017 Presidential Inaugural, I worked for the Trump White House for two and a half years traveling all over the world, I got appointed by the White House to a senior position at HUD, and now I’m running for Congress. It’s been a fun ride!
I was ultimately “replaced” as the Illinois Trump State Director five months later in August by a fine person who was the State Director for the General Election. That was a job I had no interest in, since we lost Illinois by double digits.
I remain incredibly proud of having worked for President Trump beginning in the summer of 2015. I was one of the original 17 senior staff members on the campaign. Yes, sometimes I wish I hadn’t gotten pissed off and quit right before the primary. At the time, I didn’t feel appreciated. Ultimately, everything worked out for the best, and I ended up being among the longest serving members of the early campaign staff still with the White House. Life in Trump world seems to have many twists and turns!
Thanks for letting me vent. I thought some of the die hards might like to know what actually happened. Stay tuned for updates from the 15th District. Lots of interesting things going on in this race.