Former 2010 Green Party and 2006 Moderate Party congressional candidate Bill Scheurer is considering running for Congress as a Republican this year.
A good argument can be made that 8th District Republican Joe Walsh would not have beaten incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean with Scheurer’s having been on the ballot. Look at the 2010 election returns below:
Bill Scheurer
Incumbent Joe Walsh wasn’t the only political threat banished to the new IL-14TH Congressional District by the recent Democrat-controlled gerrymandering.
The newly drawn district border also dips down into Lindenhurst – splitting the tiny village in half – to put former candidate Bill Scheurer’s longtime home of 33 years in the new district.
The DonkeyPhant returns. Click to read the messages.
Scheurer’s congressional runs in 2006 and 2010 in the old IL-8TH Congressional District (where Walsh is now the incumbent) gathered enough of the vote to make him somewhat of a “swing state” factor for independent voters unhappy with both parties.
McHenry County Blog has learned that this year he is exploring a run in the Republican Party primary.
In a comment to our story about Joe Walsh’s decision to seek re-election in the new IL-14TH District, Scheurer had this to say:
“I’m looking for people who could help kickstart a campaign to give GOP primary voters an alternative to the two ‘Tea Party’ candidates.
“Not that I have anything against tea or a good party — it’s just that I’m more of a diet cola guy for my caffeine jolt.”
He is exploring whether GOP voters would consider his “Cola Party” campaign as a refreshing alternative.
Haven’t found any official candidacy or website, but Scheurer has maintained the Facebook page from his 2010 campaign and actively posts his alternative populist views there on a fairly regular basis: http://www.facebook.com/RisingTideCampaign
This raises a most interesting question.
Are area Republicans open to supporting a more independent-minded candidate as an alternative to the “Tea Party” forces that have taken over their party?
The boundaries of the new 14th District can be seen below:
