Jeanette Ward (left) and Beth Goncher (right) are facing of in the Republican primary for the 25th District State Senate seat. Goncher's campaign has received $40,289 from the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Jeanette Ward (left) and Beth Goncher (right) are facing of in the Republican primary for the 25th District State Senate seat. Goncher's campaign has received $40,289 from the International Union of Operating Engineers.
In the campaign to replace outgoing State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove), one of the state’s largest labor unions is backing both a Democrat and a Republican contender to fill the 25th District seat.
The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), which primarily represents construction workers, has already contributed a total of $107,589 to two of the three candidates in the race this election cycle.
The IUOE is the largest contributor to both Democrat Karina Villa and moderate Republican Beth Goncher, who is squaring off with conservative Jeanette Ward in the March 17 primary.
Ward, 46, is a project manager and former school board member who has the backing of Oberweis, former state representative and gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) and Kane County Chairman Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora), who served in the seat from 1993-2013.
Goncher, 49, is executive director for the Sugar Grove Chamber of Commerce. She previously worked as a legislative aide to State Rep. Tim Schmitz (R-Aurora) and as deputy district director for U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Plano).
IUOE and its Chicago-area locals have given Villa, a West Chicago social worker-turned-state representative first elected in 2018, $67,300 since last Oct., or 43 percent of the $155,571 she has raised.
It has given Goncher 55 percent of the $90,289 she has raised, or $40,289.
Strengthening a state senate minority?
The IUOE contributions to Goncher’s campaign were funneled through a group called “The Suburban Republican Foundation,” a political action committee run by longtime Illinois political consultant Glenn Hodas, an ally of Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, its mission is “strengthening suburban Republican candidates.”
But it appears the union-backed group’s support of Goncher is more about strengthening the precarious position of Brady, who is under fire for privately backing taxpayer-funded abortion, gun control measures and tax hikes as well as his work for a video gaming company licensed by the state.
Sources tell the Kane County Reporter that Brady has said he would rather have a Democrat in the seat than Ward, who would likely support coming challenges to his Senate GOP leadership.
Rebuffed by traditional conservative donors, Brady’s campaign fundraising has increasingly centered on labor unions like IUOE Local 150, which has given committees he controls $90,600 since Oct.
That makes Local 150 Brady’s top donor. But that doesn’t mean Brady ranks any higher for the union itself. It gave House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago) $700,000 over the same period.
A Jan. Chicago Tribune report calculated that members of IUOE’s Local 150 have donated a collective $27.6 million to state political campaigns since 2012, backing some 198 politicians.
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