In a “blast from the past”, Kathy Salvi circulating petitions to run for U.S. Senate as her husband Al Salvi did 26 years ago
Illinois Review reported today (February 28) former congressional candidate Kathy Salvi of unincorporated Fremont Township in Lake County, is circulating petitions to run for U.S. Senate this year.
The final day of petition filing is two weeks from today.
Salvi’s only run for elected office took place in 2006, when she finished second to David McSweeney in the 8th Congressional District Republican primary, back when portions of eastern McHenry County and portions of Lake County were within the 8th District. McSweeney lost the general election that year to then-Congresswoman Melissa Bean (D).
The 62-year-old Kathy Salvi, mother of six children is the wife of former state Representative Al Salvi, who was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate for the open U.S. Senate seat in 1996 and in 1998 for the open Illinois secretary of state office. Both offices are still occupied by the Democrats who beat Al Salvi, though Secretary of State Jesse White is retiring this year after 6 terms.
To date, Kathy Salvi has not filed any paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), be it a Statement of Candidacy or a Statement of Organization, so she has not yet surpassed $5K raised and/or spent, for her campaign.
Given there are 8 or 9 Republican candidates who have filed for U.S. Senate to challenge first term U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D, Hoffman Estates), McHenry County Blog will simply wait to see which Republicans file for office in Springfield beginning next Monday, March 7, through the following Monday, March 14.
Both Salvis attended the private Catholic school, Carmel High School in Mundelein, as did former U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum (R, PA). The Salvis and Santorum are close.
The Illinois Review article, complete with a screenshot of Salvi’s U.S. Senate petitions for 2022, can be viewed here.
Note from John Lopez: Although the Salvi petition lists Mundelein as the home address, the Salvi home is located in unincorporated Fremont Township. The Mundelein post office delivers mail to the Salvis, hence the inclusion of Mundelein in the street address.
Doing some digging on this race…
It appears Eric Wallace is out. That’s according to Green Papers. He formed an exploratory committee but his Twitter is very outdated. His website is down. So I think he probably dropped out.
Casey Chlebek is running again. You may think of him as a minor candidate since he finished in 5th place in a 5 way race last time, but the important thing is that he has managed to get on the ballot for U.S. Senate in the past so I could see him getting on the ballot again.
Allison Salinas is listed. There’s not much info on her. I have my doubts that she’ll get on the ballot. The Green Papers says that she is not a candidate anymore. There was a rumor that she was a scammer and a convicted felon.
Timothy Arview is listed. He ran for the IL House of Reps and got on the ballot (ended up losing the primary big time to an incumbent Dave Severin who got almost 86 percent of the vote). There’s a big difference between IL House and U.S. Senate. He probably only needed 500 signatures to get on the ballot for that. He’ll need over 3000 for U.S. Senate and he has to do it in 60 instead of 90 days. I’m skeptical he’ll make the ballot.
There’s Jimmy Lee Tillman II. He has ran for congress before several times, sometimes he does manage to get on the ballot but last time he was booted off. Running for U.S. Senate requires more signatures, and he’ll have less time to do it. I see him as a maybe since he must have some followers having been a candidate so many times, right?
Then you have Peggy Hubbard and Bobby Piton. I’m just going to put them together since they are like the “top tier” candidates. I think they’ll both get on the ballot. My prediction is that Piton will win the primary. He has the most money, most media mentions, and the establishment has failed to rally behind someone else. I thought maybe Wallace would have been that person, but it looks like Wallace is out.
And there are a few candidates I just discovered!
Matthew Dubiel is running. He has a website. He only filed with the FEC two days ago (2/26). How long has he been collecting signatures? I’m skeptical this guy will make the ballot.
There is Salvi. How long has she been collecting signatures? Who is helping her? The name has recognition but she’s working against the clock. She has yet to file with the FEC. There are only two weeks until signatures are due.
Lanette Hudson. This one is interesting because I found a Lanette Hudson (also from the Chicago area) associated with the “Draft Biden” organization. Is this the same Hudson? I don’t know, but if it is then does that mean she was a Biden supporter in 2016 or 2020? And if that’s the case, has she changed her views or is she a Democratic plant? And if she has changed her views, would Republicans really trust someone who just recently made that change of mind their candidate for a high office like U.S. Senate? She filed with the FEC on 1/11/2022. I have no idea if she’ll make the ballot.
You wouldn’t think candidates would be able to get thousands of signatures in a “stealth” way where they were not detected but you never know.
As far as I can tell only three of these candidates are likely to get on the ballot (Piton, Hubbard, and Chlebek) with a fourth (Tillman) as a maybe. I have my doubts about anybody else even getting on the ballot, so while it looks like a clown car at the moment it might not end up that way when all is said and done. Who runs a “stealth” campaign for US Senate? Who gets into a big race a few weeks before? A person like that, I think, is probably not serious or not trustworthy.
If it does end up being a smaller field, the GOP will have a better chance at stopping Piton or Hubbard — but I still think they are too weak, stupid, and disorganized to accomplish that.
Bobby Piton will win.
Salvis are fakes.
Fakes, yes.
But also flakes.
The gun lobby, which loved Al Salvi when he ran in 1996, hates him now because he changed his mind. Salvi supports the Brady Law and an assault weapons ban and wouldn’t allow concealed weapons.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-03-13-9803130004-story.html