Kane County Reporter

The state GOP continued its backlash against conservative members of the party when it passed over state Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) to fill the 33rd Senate district seat vacated by Karen McConnaughay.

Kane County GOP Chair Ken Shepro recently announced the selection of former St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte, a pro-choice Republican, to fill the seat. McConnaughay recently announced she would resign the seat, but has set no date, saying only that it would likely be before her term expires.

Neither Shepro nor McHenry County GOP Chair Diane Evertsen, who had a lesser say in the selection, returned calls from the Kane County Reporter for comment on why they passed over Skillicorn.

Sen. Karen McConnaughay

Insiders say Skillicorn would make a far stronger candidate in November because he already has a campaign up and running, and his House district covers half the Senate district. In 2016, Skillicorn defeated the Democrat candidate Nancy Zettler, who opposed him in the race for the 66th House seat, by 7,000 votes.

Skillicorn said he was disappointed, but half expected not to be picked.

“I don’t represent the trajectory of the party right now,” he said. “(The) choice represents what Springfield wants, not what voters in Kane and McHenry want. This further divides the rift between the conservative base and country club leadership of the party.”

Skillicorn was an early supporter of conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), who nearly defeated Gov. Bruce Rauner in the March 20 Republican primary. Rauner, whose net worth is estimated at close to $1 billion, has donated heavily to the party — in part — to purge it of conservatives.

Ives warned of the consequences of a Senate without Skillicorn.

“Local leaders should have listened to grassroots activists and seasoned conservative leaders when we asked for Allen to head to the Senate,” she said. “The Republican caucus in the State Senate just lost the two most conservative voices, (State Sen. Tim) Bivins (R-Dixon) and (State Sen. Kyle) McCarter (R-Lebanon) due to retirement. Those two were the only two senators to vote against the blatantly unbalanced budget and have been men who kept tabs on other members when they strayed from Republican and conservative principles. With their retirements, and without Skillicorn's appointment to the seat, there is literally no one inside to be the alternative voice when Republicans go for compromises that hurt taxpayers.”

The 33rd district includes all or parts of Geneva, St. Charles, West Dundee, Hampshire, Huntley, Carpentersville, Lake in the Hills and Algonquin.