Peggy Hubbard refused to accept result of primary now labelled “Sour Grapes” by Mark Shaw
The neighboring Dundee Township (Kane County) Republican Organization (DTRO) included the following letter from Illinois Republican Party Co-Chair Mark Shaw publicly rebuking defeated U.S. Senate runner-up Peggy Hubbard that was issued prior to the Labor Day weekend.
The letter was found posted on the DTRO’s Facebook page.
Former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran won the U.S. Senate nomination back in March with a plurality of 42% of the Republican primary vote. Hubbard came in a distant 2nd at 23%, and the other three candidates much further back.
Apparently, according to Shaw’s letter, Hubbard has been posting some disparaging social media posts of Curran and the state party, which the state party had little choice but to address.
Shaw’s letter is issued under his Lake County Republican Party Chairman letterhead, where he also serves as chair, as well as 10th congressional district Republican state central committeeperson.
Curran is in the 5-way U.S. Senate General Election as the Republican nominee challenging 4-term U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D, Minority Whip), Independent Dr. Willie Wilson, Libertarian Danny Malouf of Woodstock, and Green Party David Black. Thus far, only Curran and Wilson are seen as potential serious challengers to Durbin.
COMMENTARY: While I have not seen these Hubbard social media posts, McHenry County Blog received emails about a year ago from conservative activists revealing Hubbard’s Democratic primary voting history from the Barack Obama years, the product of a review of her voting history in her downstate county.
While pulling a Democrat ballot is, by itself, not disqualifying from running in a Republican primary or speaking out on conservative issues (Curran himself was first elected Lake County sheriff as a Democrat in 2006 before switching parties and winning reelection twice as a Republican), it does give a reason why candidates must be vetted thoroughly so primary voters can cast informed votes.
The U.S. Senate Republican primary consisted of Curran, Hubbard, newcomer Dr. Tom Tarter, and gadfly candidates Dr. Robert Marshall and Casey Chlebek.
In the 14th congressional district Republican primary, McHenry County Blog readers will recall the increased scrutiny both newcomers Ted Gradel and Catalina Lauf received from established Republicans. While Jerry Evans and Anthony Catella were also newcomers, their campaigns did not go anywhere.
Though Lauf and Gradel finished 3rd and 4th place respectively, Lauf had traction with social media followers and McHenry County voters and Gradel had traction with donors. In the end, voters did not get to know Gradel enough, and Lauf was judged to be too young and lacking significant life experiences to be elevated to congressional nominee at the age of 26.
IL-14 primary voters nominated Jim Oberweis with a plurality of 26% of the primary vote. Very quickly, 5 of his 6 defeated primary opponents openly endorsed Oberweis for the fall. Lauf did not endorse Oberweis openly until July 22, 4 months after the primary, but her support of Oberweis has been seen as tepid at best, but could improve now that it’s after Labor Day.
While it took a protracted amount of time for Lauf to endorse Oberweis, she did do the right thing while Hubbard has actively and openly worked against Curran and Illinois Republicans.
Why beat around the Bush the fact is and its called “loser”…
deal with it…
Did she really say that these people thought Trump was a democratic socialist??
That’s pretty nuts, think what you want about Trump but who would think that?
For an example of a real democratic socialist see Bernie Sanders.
That’s how he describes himself.
Really smells like a rat and democrats have a habit of accusing others of what they do/are.
Who the hell cares!
Peg Hubbard has done worse than this: she is waging a campaign for her supporters to write her name in on the ballot.
Of course, being a total political neophyte , she does not realize that primary candidates are prohibited from doing so.
She lies every day on her page- some of the lies are absolutely jaw dropping- such as the lie that she only lost to Curran by 3000 votes.
In reality she lost by almost 96,000.
She deserved the rhetorical smack down.
That woman is mental and she’s a Democrat.
Lets never fall for her bullsh!t again!
You actually need to be certified as a valid write in candidate for any votes to count for you otherwise it’s the same as not voting for anyone.
That’s really smart, throw out your vote and let the socialist party, oops the democrats win.
Ms. Nevins, nothing surprises me and not surprised to hear Ms. Hubbard is doing what you said, including the write-in campaign route.
She actually has a soulmate in another candidate who came up short in his primary for Congress, and is trying the same approach.
Would have been a Friday-funny article, but given the solemnity of this Friday’s anniversary, will have to publish it early.
Then maybe we can see which defeated candidate is worse by their jaw dropping claims.
Neal, you are right, you have to be a valid, certified write-in candidate for write-in votes to count, but not being one doesn’t stop a defeated candidate from asking voters to write the name in, knowing the vote won’t count.
Maybe Curran can say, go ahead and write-in her name if you want to, but still vote for me since the write-in vote won’t be counted.
And as Ms. Nevins said, Illinois has a “loser law”.
Neal, the wench is a mental midget, a liar and a very sore loser.
She just wants a headline.
She throws on a different bad wig each day and does fb live videos like anyone cares what she has to say.
Delusional and starving for attention.
In 1983, after losing to Harold Washington, Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne considered a write-in campaign. 😮🤔
Why does Shaw waste everybody’s time with this nonsense?
Peggy Hubbard is not a politician.
Right now I can only imagine the problems she would be causing Democrats as an outspoken critic of BLM and their anarchist friendS, ANTIFA.
Peggy Hubbard would be a national figure and be on television on a regular basis…socialist Democrats would hate her and Trump supporters would love her.
An opportunity clearly missed by Illinois Republicans.
Joe, while I agree with much of what you said, the Republican primary for U.S. Senate is over and Peggy Hubbard lost. Period.
Think back to 1998, when then-State Representative Peter Roskam lost his first congressional primary bid.
He accepted the primary voters’ wishes, returned to Springfield as a state senator, and in 2006 was uncontested in the primary and won the first of 6 terms in Congress, and is the only Republican to ever beat Tammy Duckworth.
When one runs in the Republican primary, you run knowing the Republican primary voters may go with someone other than you, and every candidate in the primary must be ready to help someone else win the general if they are not the nominee.
Yes, an opportunity may have been missed by Illinois Republicans, through the Republican primary voters.
Same can be said in the IL-14 as the two newcomers Catalina Lauf and Ted Gradel BOTH had their followings, but in 2020, IL-14 Republican primary voters went with Jim Oberweis over Lauf, Gradel and 4 others.
Now, Hubbard has painted a terrible impression on people that she’s not a team player.
The same way, all the Republicans who lost to Oberweis, should they decide to run for anything as a Republican, will be judged how they took the loss, did they support Oberweis with ALL-THEIR-HEART when they should face Republican primary voters in the future.
Hubbard, unless she turns it around quick, will not be supported if she tries to run as a Republican in the future.
Lauf, Gradel remains to be seen.
Primary voters will remember these things in the future.