Jack Franks
Just got around to reading the Northwest Herald’s takes on the election.
The most interesting tidbit was Democratic Party Jack Franks’ comment:
“I think people would be happy with a [nearly] 20-point win.”
Note that reporter Emily Coleman added the “nearly” just like I do when my note taking cannot keep up with a person’s talking.
GOP State Rep. candidate Steve Reick and newly-elected District 4 County Board candidate Chuck Wheeler chatted at Lou Bianchi’s fund raiser…which Jack Franks attended.
But Franks apparently said,
“I think people would be happy with a 20-point win.”
I don’t know what time Franks made the comment.
Maybe it was when only 35 of the 73 precincts had reported.
If so, results then showed him getting almost a 20-point win,18.46 when I do the subtraction.
But, as the night went on, Franks’ lead over Republican Steve Reick narrowed.
By the time all the in-person votes had been counted, Franks no longer had an almost 20-point lead.
This shows a bit over a 15 percentage point lead.
Then mid-day the day after the election, early and absentee votes were added.
The almost final results (only a very few late arriving absentee ballots missing) can be seen below:
It bumped Franks margin up to 18.18 percentage points.
In 2010, Republican John O’Neill garnered 36.08% of the vote against Franks.
So, Franks’ margin decreased from 23.92 points to 18.18 points.
Certainly a healthy victory, but indicating some vulnerabilities, it seems to me.
In the slug fest of 2000, when Dr. Tom Salvi took Franks on in Franks’ first re-election attempt the results were
- Salvi – 48.37% (23,476 votes)
- Franks – 51.54% (25,013 votes)
Salvi spent about $168,000. Franks spent a bit over $400,000.
So, to get close to Democrat Franks in this conservative district, one does not have to outspend him.
This year, the House Republican Organization raised money in McHenry County.
But I can see nothing spent to help Steve Reick’s campaign.
[After this article went up, Reick told me that the House Republican Organization paid for the one mailing he had.]
The State Republican Party did allow Reick to save postage by using its postal permit.
In neighboring Lake County, however, the House Republican Organization spent almost $100,000 to elect Rod Drobinski. Locally, State Rep. David McSweeney also contributed $1,000.
Drobinski was running against first-term incumbent Sam Yingling.
The results were close
- Yingling – 51.84% (13,527 votes)
- Drobinski – 48.16% (12,568 votes)
Salvi also had the Salvi name.
Maybe the new leadership of the County GOP will find a qualified candidate and actually support them….next time
The Norwest Townships donated to his campaign from money we earned at our fundraiser.
“The Norwest Townships donated to his campaign from money we earned at our fundraiser.”
…for which I’m very grateful.
If Steve plans to run again I hope he learned from his mistakes.
Mrs.:
Check out how much the prior County GOP helped out previous candidates.
Oh, I forgot, they did not.
The new County GOP sent out a mailer and it was followed up with regional mailers which were extremely well received and helped improve the GOP turnout.
Congrats to all the GOP committeemen and committee ladies who walked precincts and sent out their own personal letters to constituents!!
The County GOP has shown they are for real!!
Keep up the good work!!
As Mike Tryon did not have any competition, how much time did he spend on the campaign trail for the other candidates who were trying to retain their seats or defeat an incumbent?
I do not believe he spent one minute in D-63 to help out Reick!
I do believe he transferred a few shekels from his campaign fund but a Town Hall or two or three with Reick would have helped a lot!!
In addition where was Althoff?
She did not even have to run for office yet.
How come she was not out with Reick campaigning?
Oh, I forgot, his name is Steve not Jack.
Hopefully we can primary Althoff when her term is up if she chooses to run again.
ah, someone else noticed how the elected officials dissed Reick.
I hope Steve Reick plans to run again.
He did a great job for not having help from the elected Republicans.
I remember how he was dissed at the Lincoln Day dinner and the doted on Franks.
Plus Rauner shot Reick in the back w/ his “I’ll work with Jack Franks” remarks.
**Certainly a healthy victory, but indicating some vulnerabilities, it seems to me.**
Ha!
Only in McHenry County Blog Land does a 17%+ victory count as “some vulnerabilities.”
The Yingling/Drobinski race was a bought race.
The IL Dems gave Yingling $808,000 and he was given $60,000 by Realtors who ran him as Republican Sam Yingling.
The remainder of his money came from outside the District.
Bottom line is Yingling spent $74 for each vote compared to Drobinski who spent the typical $14.80 per vote.
In Lake County, the GOP took nearly every position to include Governor.
Yet they returned all for Democratic State Rep to Madigan allowing him to keep his veto-proof House.