SYCAMORE – Jeff Keicher said he has met a lot of people in the area who tell him they have considered leaving Illinois.
“The consistent theme was that they felt bad and felt frustrated that the tax and government situation got to where they had no other choice,” Keicher, a State Farm agent from Sycamore running as a Republican to represent the Illinois House's 70th District, said. “Illinois is an amazing place, and I know it has the opportunity to do better.”
Keicher said he hopes to keep conversations alive with his potential constituents as a means to win the district that will be left open by retiring Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley, who has served the district since December 2013.
Keicher will be challenged in Nov. 6's general election by Paul Stoddard, a DeKalb County Board member who won the Democratic nomination.
Stoddard received 4,088 votes, or 76.8 percent of the total vote against his opponent, DeKalb School District 428 Board Secretary Howard Solomon, according to DeKalb County election results. As an unopposed candidate, Keicher received 3,940 votes.
Stoddard said he plans to knock on doors throughout the district, but it would be ideal to hold a few debates with Keicher and their potential Libertarian opponent, John Eldon Mathey.
“I think those are the ideal mechanisms for candidates and voters to get to know each other,” Stoddard said. “We have a message that ideally goes across party lines, so we want to get it to everyone.”
According to his campaign website, www.stoddard4illinois70.com, Stoddard has two legislative goals if elected: “fair map” redistricting to ensure that districts aren’t gerrymandered to favor one party over another, and local funding of campaigns so outside parties have no influence in local elections.
“We’re seriously looking to reform the way business is done in Springfield,” Stoddard said. “We’re trying to make representatives more responsive to voters instead of outside interests and include everyone in the governing process instead of just having the majority party running things.”
Keicher said he is running on five main points: protecting taxpayers, creating jobs and economic development, improving workforce development within educational institutions, fiscal responsibility that will lead to balanced budgets and funding core infrastructure.
"What I've seen more and more is dialogue between elected officials that has been about resources and revenues that has lost the concept that the money being spent is other people's money," Keicher said. "We can't keep asking people, families and businesses to pay more and more."
According to his campaign website, keicherforrep.com, Keicher has held leadership positions in numerous organizations, including the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce, Sycamore Public Library and the DeKalb Chapter of the American Red Cross and has led with the understanding of the value of dialogue.
"It's important that people have the opportunity to get to know and learn where I stand and where I've been, and I will look at all avenues of getting that information out there," Keicher said.
As for job growth, Keicher said the only things stopping employers from making Illinois their home base is overtaxation, overregulations and the worker's compensation environment in the state. By solving overtaxation and overregulation, Keicher believes the state can draw in employers and keep residents from fleeing.
Although Keicher and Stoddard have secured their respective parties’ nomination, voters might see a third name on November’s ballot.
Libertarian candidate John Eldon Mathey, 23, must collect 1,800 signatures to secure his spot, starting Tuesday. He said his goal is to get twice the number of signatures he needs, to ensure no one challenges his petition.
He has 90 days to do so.
“We’ll be going door to door, which I think is the most solid way to get signatures,” Mathey said. “That will be a big chunk of it, but we’re also monitoring and making sure we’ll be at every single event in the district.”
According to his campaign site, mathey4illinois.com, Mathey, is running because he has always seen value in serving his community, and he sees how he can help strengthen the district that he and his family have always loved.